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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28492515">Family is What We Make of It</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/inky_dreams/pseuds/inky_dreams'>inky_dreams</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>What is family? [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman - All Media Types, Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood: Lost Days</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bruce Wayne is a Bad Parent, Female Jason Todd, Gen, Good Parent Slade Wilson, Good Parent Talia al Ghul, Jason Todd Kills Joker (DCU), Mild Language, Not Canon Compliant, Parent Slade Wilson, Protective Slade Wilson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:55:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>20,224</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28492515</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/inky_dreams/pseuds/inky_dreams</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Medea (Jay) Todd is resurrected and has to make a decision on what to do next.</p><p>Sometimes the family we start out with is not necessarily the family that remains. A small decision here and there can have a profound change on the final outcome.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jason Todd &amp; Damian Wayne, Jason Todd &amp; Rose Wilson, Jason Todd &amp; Slade Wilson, Rose Wilson &amp; Slade Wilson, Talia al Ghul &amp; Jason Todd</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>What is family? [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2115303</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>82</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>191</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was a shrill scream, Jay looked left and right, where on earth was it coming from?</p><p>It was getting louder and louder. </p><p>Why wasn't anyone doing anything? Why were these <strike>ninjas? guards?</strike> people approaching her?</p><p>As they approached, Jay was automatically on guard, ready to flee or fight depending on the situation. If she had picked up anything from living in Crime Alley, she was always on guard. Heck, that had saved her life in many instances. </p><p>oh .... OH</p><p>She was the one screaming. Where was B? Batman never left his Robin alone for long? Jay started to quiet down, swallowing her screams, she looked down to see various bandages around her shaking hands. Why was she so injured, where was she? </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>"I see you have calmed down, shall we move to a different room to chat?"</p><p>"To chat?" - Jay looked up to see a woman in front of her, who the guards had parted to let in. </p><p>"Yes, let's leave this drafty cave behind, someone is waiting to see you again."</p><p>Was it B? Jay glanced at the woman, and nodded. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Jay was confused, to put it simply. She was sitting in a well furnished and comfortable living room. The woman had introduced herself as Talia al-Ghul. Wasn't that one of Bruce's many exes? The moment she walked in, the toddler had launched himself at her legs and refused to let go. She had looked at Talia bewildered, but Talia had simply chuckled and ruffled the toddler's hair. Eventually Talia took pity on her, and handed him off to a nursemaid, promising him that Jay and him could chat later.</p><p>"Talia.. I... " gosh, this was so awkward, what was she supposed to say to her adopted father's ex? "Where am I? What happened? I can't remember anything except for the explosion". The explosion, her mother selling her out, the Joker swinging the crowbar cackling "Forehand or backhand? Which one hurts more", the pain, Joker's laughs and the blood.</p><p>"Breathe habibi, I will explain everything. Take a deep breathe, everything will be explained in due time"</p><p>Jay blinked, she hadn't realized that she was hyperventilating. "Al- Alright, I'm all ears. In fact, hit me with your best shot"</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>First time posting something, hope you enjoy reading through it</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>An insight into Jay's memories, we see some more effects from her dip into the Lazarus pit. Jay relives some bad memories and is confronted with a small child</p><p>AKA Jay doesn't know how to handle small children</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"What?! He replaced me after 6 months! I- I can't believe ... That's impossible" Jay snarled. Her vision had turned green, there was a voice in the back of her head egging on some rather murderous thoughts</p><p><em>Kill them, kill the traitor and the replacement, he betrayed you, what use do you have of them.</em> </p><p>
  <em>No. B didn't betray me.</em>
</p><p><em> I- I </em> <em>died. How would he know I came back?</em></p><p>
  <em>Kill them all. There's nobody else in this world who will care about you. Your murderer still walks free</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You remain unavenged </em>
</p><p>"Jay?"</p><p>Jay looked up to see Talia's concerned face staring at her, she looked back down to see her hands bleeding. The green haze was fading away, only present at the edges of her vision. At her feet was a shattered teacup and tea all over the carpet.</p><p>"So-sorry about the spilt tea" mumbled Jay</p><p>"Nonsense, how are you feeling? I understand that a lot has passed since your awakening for you to process"</p><p>"I don't get it"</p><p>"Pardon?"</p><p>"Wh-why are you doing all this for me? Offerin to help with my next steps? Ain't never a free meal, what's the catch?"</p><p>"..." Talia hesitated briefly "Circumstances changed. This is all the information from various news outlets regarding any events you have missed out on. You may bring it with you to peruse. It's getting rather late now, shall I have someone escort you to your rooms? We can discuss any further questions you have in the morning"</p><p>Jay blinked, she hadn't realized how tired she was until Talia had pointed it out "su-sure, sleep sounds good"</p><p> </p><hr/><p>On second thought, sleep was a terrible idea. Joker's words haunted Jay every time she closed her eyes. Sleeping was even worse, her death replaying non-stop. </p><p>"Forehand?"</p><p>
  <em>whack</em>
</p><p>"Or backhand?"</p><p>
  <em>whack</em>
</p><p>"Tell me little birdie, which one hurts most?"</p><p>Jay opened her mouth to scream <strike>in grief? pain? rage?  </strike> All this screaming but why was nobody coming to intervene? Her mother was in the corner, but all her attention was to her cigarette. The only other person was Joker. Suddenly there was the sound of a door banging. Was it B? Then a warmth blossomed by her side. The warehouse was fading to black. Wait, were her surroundings shifting?<br/><br/>The more she blinked, the quicker her surroundings shifted to darkness. Eventually the darkness became a dark bedroom. She was lying on a soft bed, lifting her head, a window was to the left of her bed with a desk beside it. On the opposite side, there was a door left ajar in the corner. A rustle came from the door. Jay froze "Who is it?" There was no answer, but another rustle. Perhaps it was a breeze? Or maybe just something passing by the hallway. </p><p>"Ukht" came a young voice</p><p>"..."</p><p>"Ukht, what's wrong?"</p><p>Jay turned to see a toddler at her side. The very same toddler that had hung onto Jay and pouted until Talia promised he could chat with the next day. "e-er what are you doing here kid?"</p><p>In response, the toddler cocked his read and blinked at Jay. "Let's go back to sleep ukht, I'm still sleepy", as if proving his point, the kid <strike>Dami, where did that come from?</strike> crawled back to her side and quickly fell asleep. Jay blinked at the events that had happened, her mind was trying to catch up to her reality.</p><p>
  <em>There's a kid here</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Yes, how astute of you</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Should I move him back?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You don't even know where his room is. Besides you just heard something out there, do you really want to face it?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Good point</em>
</p><p>
  <em>If Talia let him approach you tonight, would she really care about this. Just go to sleep</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>And return to the nightmares? No thanks</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Jay blinked again , was she hallucinating or was the kid real? She turned to see the kid <strike>was not a hallucination and </strike> still fast asleep. "Alright let's keep watch, I'd rather not have my head on the line if Talia's kid got hurt in my room" Jay grimaced at that thought. Although she tried hard to stay awake, she drifted off rather quickly. Surprisingly, her sleep was rather peaceful, with no cackles or psycho murderous clowns appearing.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I'm unsure if this would be the correct spelling for sister in Arabic. But many sites and fanfics seem to suggest this spelling. Please let me know if another word would be more appropriate to use instead. </p><p>References:<br/>Jay is about 15 turning 16 at this point<br/>Damian is about 3-4 years old. Kids at this age are surprisingly talkative when they want to.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Some fluffy moments between Damian and Jay, along with some decisions that need to be made.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Morning arrives quicker than anticipated. The kid's presence had been a good luck charm, seemingly driving away her nightmares. Sunlight streamed through the window and directly onto the bed. </p><p>"<em>Ukht! Ukht!</em> Wake up!"  the <strike>brat</strike> kid is squirming beside Jay.</p><p>"5 more minutes pleasssee..." </p><p>"No! I'm hungry now, let's get breakfast!" </p><p>"..." </p><p>"<em>Ukht!</em>"</p><p>"oOf I'm up now" Jay placates "Alright, why don'tcha show me where to go hmm?"</p><p>The kid blinks before beaming. In an instant, he is at the door and waiting for Jay to catch up. "Hurry up!"</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p>The trip to the dining room had been short, but that hadn't deterred the kid. He hadn't missed the opportunity to latch onto Jay's hand and was filling her in on what he had done the previous days. Talia was already present when they arrived. She was seated at the head of the table reading off her tablet. Talia had an amused look on her face and had turned the tablet off when they had sat down. </p><p>"I see the 2 of you are finally awake"</p><p>"<em>Ukht</em> slept in, so I had to wake her up!"</p><p>"Is that so? Damian, you should eat up. You have lessons to attend to, your tutor is waiting for you to finish. Jay, I hope you had a good rest?"</p><p>
  <em>Damian? ... The kid's name was Damian, so Dami must have been a nickname-</em>
</p><p>"Oh um... yes, it was fine. Thank you" <em>Better not to antagonize, and be polite to the woman who rescued you</em></p><p>Talia waved away her thanks and gestured for Jay to eat. "I'm sure you have some questions, let's us finish breakfast first"</p><p>Jay nodded and glanced down. The table was filled with dishes from similar to what he had at Wayne Manor, fruits and some that she shouldn't identify. Jay took a few common ones and after a brief hesitation tried the unknown dish in front of her. To her delight, it was delicious. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p>Breakfast finished relatively quickly. When the plates were cleared away, Damian was sent off to his tutors, Talia gestured to follow her, Jay was led to the same room that she was in the previous night. Once they were seated comfortably, Talia started "What else would you like to know?"</p><p>"Where exactly are we? We are not in Ethiopia, are we?"</p><p>"No, this is Nanda Parbat. One of the League's many bases."</p><p>"While I'm grateful for your help, bringing me back from my catatonic state, am I a hostage against B?"</p><p>"You are not a hostage, nor are you here as a prisoner."</p><p>"So I can leave whenever? Can I return to Gotham?"</p><p>"Yes and no." Talia gestures to the many bandages around Jay's body "In your current state, you would not be able to go very far. It would be in your best interest to stay and heal your body first. If Gotham is where you wish to return to, then we can discuss arrangements once you have healed. Furthermore, the pit still influences your actions, it may be favourable to stay and learn to control the pit's influence."</p><p>"The pit?"</p><p>"Yes, although the pit has brought you back, it also has some- shall we say side effects. At first, you may find yourself acting more volatile than before. When you experience heightened emotions, you may have noticed a green tint to your vision? Take a look in the mirror behind you"</p><p><em>My eyes are no longer blue. Instead they are an acidic green, similar to the green taint that creeps into my vision. If it had been dark, I'm sure they would have been glowing their sickly green.</em> "W-what?"</p><p>"Over time, the green will fade. However, heightened emotions will bring it back. But you can learn to control it."</p><p>"How can I do that? Pl-please "</p><p>"Shall we discuss your next steps?"</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Time seemed to pass by quickly, Jay had no idea if weeks or months had passed. Many moments were spent with <strike>Damian</strike> Dami and learning how to control the pit rage, as Talia had <strike>affectionately</strike> dubbed it. Lots of meditation had been involved, so did many broken tea cups. Progress was slow, some days were harder than others. There were days where she grew homesick with no drive to do anything; some days filled with pit induced rage, raging at everything around her. Her nightmares still haunted her, but they were fading in frequency. </p><p>The pit seemed to have undone what years of malnourishment had done to her body, she was taller than before <em>Yes!,</em> her old scars had disappeared thanks to her dip in the pit. In exchange, there was a white streak of hair. <em>Which wasn't too bad, since she could always dye it.</em>  The doctors that Talia had hired said she should be able to grow to her full potential. But she still wasn't cleared to do any advanced training. She was relegated to doing basic training to adjust to her new body. That was mostly fine with her, but she grew bored quickly of her limits. Keeping up with Gotham had also been tedious, there was only so much one could grasp from social media. </p><p>Luckily Talia seemed to notice, sending many books her way. Soon Jay and Damian quickly established a nightly routine. Damian would tell Jay how his day had went with his lessons. Afterwards, Damian or Jay would pick out a novel for her to read. Jay had always been an avid storyteller and she was more than happy to perform for a willing audience. Sometimes Talia would sit in the background and listen in while she worked away on her tablet.</p><p> </p><p>Jay wasn't stupid, she knew that the League was no Justice League. But did it make her a bad person if she agreed with some of the Demon's head ideals? </p><p><em>Sometimes evil won't change even if it is given a second chance for the millionth time. Bruce would have reprimanded me for voicing that </em> she grimaced remembering the Felipe Garzonas case. <em>Just imagine if someone stepped in earlier, maybe Gloria would have never needed to go through that. Maybe the Joker wouldn't have such a high body count if someone had done something earlier. Then he wouldn't have taken me away from you <strike>B, Bruce, old man</strike> dad</em></p><p> </p>
<hr/><p>"T?"</p><p>Talia quirks an eyebrow in response</p><p>"Did you really mean it? Anything? What if I decide, I want to go back to Gotham"</p><p>"That can be arranged"</p><p>"What if I want to take revenge?"</p><p>"I suppose more training and adequate resources would be required. But let me ask you this, do you?"</p><p>"Ye-No" Jay paused "I don't know anymore. D-do you think I could stay here? Sometimes when we talk about Bruce and <strike>the replacement</strike> new Robin, I am fine. Other times, my vision- everything goes green and the anger, it just builds and builds. I'm terrified. All the whispers, promises of revenges and ridding him of my replacement". Bitterness fills her taste buds. Every time she saw <strike>her replacement</strike> Robin in the media, she was conflicted. She wanted to hate him. She hated that she was replaced so quickly. <em>But that's not Robin's fault, it's Bruce's fault. One child soldier was enough, he should have learnt his lesson and stopped </em></p><p>Talia's expression softens "Jay, you are free to stay as long as you want. You are not a prisoner here. Damian enjoys your company just as much as I do" </p><p>"I-I would like to stay for a while longer, I'm still unsure..."</p><p>"Of course habibi"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The longer Jay stayed at the compound, the more conflicted she felt. Here she was being trained by some of the deadliest people in the world, while B was left in the dark with no clue that she was alive. </p><p>The training was unexpected. Once she had been cleared by the doctors, Talia had arranged for her to train with various teachers. Each teacher was a master in their respective field. Her body felt like it was burning after her sessions. On the bright side, the exhaustion let her fall asleep easier, she had less nightmares. On the odd occasion that she had a nightmare, Damian seemed to have a sixth sense, he would always come into her room. His presence often brought her back to reality and seemingly chased the nightmares away. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>All those training sessions, but nothing had prepared her for Lady Shiva. </p><p><em>Lady Shiva, that seemed like a lifetime ago. </em>She remembers approaching Shiva while on her quest to find her mom. <em>What if things had turned out different? Would the outcome still have been the same?</em></p><p>Her first training session with Shiva had been brutal. Within 2 minutes, Jay was lying on the ground. All Shiva did was gesture for her to get up and begin again. The next sessions had been equally if not more gruelling. Jay had never related more to a punching bag. As sessions went on, she improved. Don't get Jay wrong, she still felt like a punching bag. But at least, she was slowly lasting longer and longer. Or that's what Talia had told her, after observing some of Jay's sessions.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The league also employed outside contractors for jobs and with that came Deathstroke, another familiar face. Deathstroke would come and go, sometimes another figure would accompany him. The mercenary had crossed paths with Batman a few times while she was Robin.  Jay had only seen him from a distance, as Batman had forbidden Robin from getting close to Deathstroke. Their first official meeting was not brutal like Shiva's first training session, instead it was more... chaotic. </p><p>It had started with <strike>Ravager</strike> Rose meeting Jay during one of her sessions. What happened next was history, the 2 had bonded and the resulting chaos had led to an amused Deathstroke dragging them back to the compound. The following training session had been vicious. Slade had forced the 2 of them to train till they almost passed out from the exhaustion.</p><p>"You are exaggerating habibi"</p><p>"But T...."</p><p> </p><p>"See dad, I told you that it was too much for us"</p><p>"Whiny brats. Should I double the intensity for tomorrow?"</p><p>
  <strong>"NO SIR!!" </strong>
</p><p>Sometimes Slade and Talia seemed to exchange exasperated glances at the ridiculous situations that Jay and Rose ended up in. It wasn't their fault that trouble seemed to follow them anywhere they went. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Talia had not been lying when she said she would do her best to grant Jay's wishes. Tutors had been arranged when Jay hesitantly approached Talia with the idea of getting her GED, she had been worried that her request would be rejected. Talia granted it, and the next day she was sent off to the library to meet her tutors. When she went to thank Talia, Talia had simply smiled and said "No need to thank me, after all this is only what a parent should do "</p><p>In between the training, the studies, time spent with Talia and Damian, there wasn't much time left for anything else. Sometimes she would reminisce of Wayne manor, the good and bad moments. The nostalgia was bittersweet, for every cherished moment, the pit worked to remind her of the bad moments. She tried to ignore them, but there was only so much she could ignore. Damian was curious too about his father, he often pleaded for more stories about Bruce. Jay tried to keep up, but there was only so much she could tell about her time with Bruce. So she told more, ones about Bruce and Dick, that she had heard from Alfred. Damian loved the stories, he would ask Jay to repeat them. Curiously, he seemed to prefer the hear about the ones Jay had participated in.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Although Jay hadn't made up her mind, she still kept an eye out on any news about Bruce and Alfred. Easily enough, she had gotten access to the internet and had quickly bypassed the Batcave's security with her old codes. Internally, she was grateful that they weren't removed. But what happened next had soured her mood. Once she had gotten in, Jay had wanted to look at past security feeds. While she had been reviewing them, she hadn't noticed that Batman and his new Robin had returned to the cave from their patrol. The harsh "Robin!" uttered had alerted her, Batman had started berating the<strike> replacement</strike> new Robin about his carelessness on patrol. At first, she hadn't really cared. After all, it was almost a tradition for Robins to argue with Batman. But she hadn't anticipated Batman's next actions.</p><p>"Robin, you can't be so reckless or you will end up like Jason" Batman growled, gesturing at a glass case "He was hot-headed, always rushing in without..."</p><p>Her heart pounding, was that really all Bruce had thought of her? A reckless, hotheaded teen. Shaking her head, she tried to zoom in onto the glass case. Eventually she saw her uniform in it, a plaque saying Jason Todd, a good soldier was attached to it. </p><p>
  <em>A soldier, that was all I was worth? What happened to being y-your child?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Jason, I'm not your father. I don't need your teenage rebellion"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>What happened to the dad that skipped patrol because I was sick? </em>
</p><p>Trembling, she skimmed through the feed archives, <em>was this what everyone thought too?</em>  To her horror, it seemed like everyone had uttered some variation of it, even Alfred had. Dick was no surprise. He had always disliked Jay from the start and the Titans had simply followed his lead. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Looking back now, she should have made her decision long ago. Her choice was straightforward. There was no point in delaying it. Jay would choose her family, a family that had also chosen and accepted her for who she was. </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Although Jason is a female in this story, Bruce did not know when he first adopted Jay. He eventually does know (autopsy report), but assumes Jay didn't tell him because he assumes she identified as a male and was worried about his reaction. That's why he refers to Jay as he/him/Jason. While living on the streets, Jay had disguised herself as a boy, feeling that she would be safer from pimps looking for newer recruits. Even after being adopted, she worried that Bruce may ask her for certain favours. So she kept up her disguise. </p><p>I'd like to think that she would have eventually revealed it to Bruce if Ethopia never happened.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Damian is a tattletale (of sorts), Medea becomes a living person again (or at least in the eyes of law)<br/></p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I apologize if it gets a little confusing between the names switching, but in this chapter Jay reveals her real name, which is Medea. From this chapter onward, I'm going to refer to her as Medea. Jay is more of a nickname she used for her alias Jason. Also smol Medea was definitely a book lover, she choose the name Jason from the Greek myths.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a silly remark. Really, she had no idea, Damian would take it to heart. The 2 of them had been talking about schooling, she had made an offhand remark about how she couldn't go back. You know, as legally dead kids couldn't exactly do much. Legally at least. </p><p>But now, here they were. Interrupting Talia and Ra's meeting.</p><p>She was screwed, she couldn't imagine surviving the conversation for long. Well it was inevitable, time to meet Ra's Al-Ghul in person. </p><p>"<em>Um</em>i! <em>Umi</em>!" Damian blinked, finally seeing his grandfather seated across from Talia "Grandfather"</p><p>"Damian, what's the matter?"</p><p>"It's <em>Ukht</em>! She said that she can't go to uni- university because she's dead! Tell<em> Ukht </em>that she's wrong, she's being silly"</p><p><em>Oh no... scratch that, she was majorly screwed. </em>She looked down, avoiding eye contact. <em>What was she going to do? She had no problem with Damian calling her sister, but would The Demon's Head take offence to that? Ra's was all about bloodline and purity, right? Would he be annoyed that some street urchin was being considered a part of his family?</em></p><p>To her surprise, neither adult said anything. </p><p>"My apologies habibi, I should have approached you sooner about reinstating your legal status. I assumed that you were going to ask me when you felt ready. I didn't want to rush you into anything. "</p><p>
  <em>Huh? </em>
</p><p>"N-no, it's not your fault at all T. I-uh I hadn't realized it was an option"</p><p>"I can get the documents processed quickly, but I will need your preferred name. Or would you like to keep your name as Jason Todd?"</p><p>"...N-no, Jason was an alias. It was easier to disguise as a boy in Crime Alley than as a girl. I think I want to go back to my birth name, Medea"</p><p>"Of course, habibi. Just Medea?"</p><p>"Like the Greek myths?" interjected a male voice</p><p>"Wa-what?" Medea flushed. In her excitement to be a real person again, she had forgotten about the elephant in the room. <em>Oh boy, ohhh boy, was this the part where Ra's yelled at her? Or ordered assassins to take her out "</em>er.. yes. Just like the Greek myths."  ... "sir"</p><p>"Interesting, are you a fan of literature?"</p><p>"Y-yes"</p><p>"There's quite a collection of mythology in the library. You should check it out in your spare time. Come Damian, you are going to be late to your lessons. Let's leave your mother and sister to sort out your sister's identity."</p><p>"Okay"</p><p>"And Talia?"</p><p>"Yes, father?"</p><p>"Make sure to get her both sets of ID, after all she can't be using the Al-Ghul name while she is studying as a civilian." </p><p>....</p><p>....</p><p>Both females froze. Talia quickly recovered, "Of course, father. I'll get her a set as Al-Ghul and as Head"</p><p>
  <em>Well... that was weird. Ra's was strangely okay with it</em>
</p><p>"See that you do" </p><p> </p><p>That encounter had been strange, but that was not the end of her encounters with Ra's. The first few encounters had her scared to death, she had been polite and very formal, worried that she would offend him. Her distress must have been plain to see, as he soon told her she could speak freely. It took a while, but eventually, Talia would sometimes find them in the library debating on a range of topics. Mostly literature, as they tended to shy away from their differing stances on morality. On some rarer occasions, Ra's would give advice on how to improve Medea's combat skill, similar to how he would monitor Damian's lessons.</p><p> </p><hr/><p>The IDs arrived soon enough, Talia's contact had ensured discreteness and the IDs were delivered quickly. While being declared legally alive had been a relief for Medea, she was soon conflicted on her next steps. On one hand, she had always wanted to pursue higher education. This would have never been possible, especially if she was still living in Crime Alley. On the other, leaving behind her <strike>vigilante? assassin? </strike> former lifestyle was something she felt apprehensive about. Fighting for something, whether it was for her own behalf, on for someone else had always been a large part of her lifestyle. The idea of leaving it behind was such a strange and foreign concept, yet there was an appealing side to pursue it. </p><p>Talia must have picked up on Medea's moods, as she soon found a pile of university pamphlets on her desk. During one of their nightly chats, Talia had brought up the idea. When Medea confided her worries to Talia, Talia had been quick to soothe them.</p><p>"Habibi, I'm surprised you haven't thought of a solution to it already."</p><p>"Huh? What do you mean T?"</p><p>"Wanting to prioritize your education first doesn't mean you have to give up your current lifestyle. If anything, I would encourage you to pursue your degree. I won't stand to have my children be uneducated" Talia said with a mock scoff</p><p>"Ha" <em>That's cool, T really is ok with this. She's not mad that I want to pursue something outside of the League-</em></p><p>"As for your training, we can easily arrange for your instructors to come to you instead of the other way around. If that is what you wish."<br/><br/></p><p>"I- Thank you, mom!" Medea cries launching herself at T </p><p>"Silly girl" <strike>Talia, T</strike> mom pats her back "did you think I would have been displeased? Come, have you taken a look at any of the pamphlets? What did you have in mind?"</p><hr/><p> </p><p>Talia had arranged for a flat that was walking distance to her campus. She enjoyed having a place to herself, it also made it less awkward to explain why she owned weaponry of all sorts to any potential roommate.  Training was easier, when there were no curious roommates that would also walk in. Talia kept her word and had sent her instructors to make sure she kept in shape.</p><p>University life had been nothing like the movies. Dying early tended to wreck one's social life, so she really had no idea what to expect. Reality was slightly disappointing, the assignments piled up easily and some of the lectures practically bored her to sleep.  But it had been worth it, she joined clubs, met people with similar interests, made friends and attended lectures that were actually interesting. The normalcy was something she hadn't realized she missed.</p><p>Having been involved in the hero life and as a League member, the paranoia needed to be dialled down a lot when attending university.  While she retained some of her paranoia, she was almost 100% certain that her organic chem prof was not out to get her because of her connections. He just enjoyed torturing students with many, many assignments. It was also good to practice being a civilian. The first time someone ran after her and put their hand on her shoulder, she nearly knocked them out. She had been mortified, it had only been her classmate running after her trying to return her phone. Yeah, her paranoia levels were probably a little higher than necessary. </p><p>The homesickness had hit harder than expected. Talia must have expected this in advance, as she found a tin of tea leaves delivered to her whenever her supply was running low. The kind that T and her would often drink together when they had the nightly chats. Through FaceTime, she kept her weekly chats with Talia and Damian would join them, telling Medea all about what he did since they last talked. She always looked forward to the holidays, as she would return home to see them.</p><p>Rose also dropped in on when she could, mostly to mooch off her cooking. Sometimes she came alone or Eddie would tag along. The three of them would often stay in and hang out. On occasions, she would join the two of them on a mission if it was in town. Of course, she would need a code name for those days, she opted to go for Nyx.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The name Nyx was something I came up with based on her past history.<br/>Since Medea is a greek mythology nerd in this, I made her use the name Nyx, for the goddesss of the night. Slightly referencing the Batfam, as they mainly act during the night. It's also another reference to one of Jason Todd's parental figures. In the comics, he is briefly adopted by Nocturna.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Medea graduates and a whole lot of chaos follows her and her siblings.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The day of her graduation arrived and Medea still couldn’t believe it. College seemed to have passed in a blink of an eye. It felt like yesterday, she was complaining to T about her upcoming assignments.</p><p> </p><p>“Congratulations, habibi”</p><p>“Thanks mom, I- you didn’t have to come all the way”</p><p>“Nonsense, why wouldn’t I come to see my eldest child graduate? I’m proud of you habibi. Your grandfather is on his way, he had some loose ends to tie up”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Ukht! Let me show you my new sketches”</p><p>Talia waves her away to join Damian by the couch. Damian eagerly sets up many pieces by the coffee table, displaying each one and waiting for Medea to comment on them. The two are still looking over his sketches when Ra’s arrives.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p> </p><p>“Medea, Damian” </p><p>“Grandfather”</p><p>“Well done on completing your studies Medea, I’ve heard that you were made valedictorian. In honor of your achievement, here’s some books from my collection that I think you will enjoy”. </p><p> </p><p>Three books were handed to her, each wrapped in an emerald green ribbon. “T-Thank you” </p><p> </p><p>“Now it seems that we should head out soon, we wouldn’t want to be late for your big day, would we?”</p><hr/><p>Convocation went by smoothly, with only a small delay in starting. But the extra wait time was worth it, she was happy to share the moment with her family. Even if Rose had hollered out “That’s my sister” when it was her turn to walk across the stage. <em> Actually, that was sort of cute. Not that she’d ever admit it out loud, Rose would probably punch her if she ever insinuated that  in her hearing.  </em></p><p> </p><p>They had celebrated afterwards at dinner, with the invitation extended to the Wilsons. She had been surprised with more gifts. There was an art piece from Damian, one from Joey, books, some weaponry, some jewellery and weaponry that was disguised as an accessory. Rose had simply winked and said her gift was the best and that she’d tell her later. </p><p> </p><p>After dinner, the adults had opted to stay behind and continue chatting, but had given them permission to go out and explore the city.  Since the amusement park was still open, the four had voted to go there.</p><p> </p><p>Although it was getting dark, the amusement park was relatively busy. People were milling around, lining up for rides, munching on greasy snacks and more. A game plan was drawn up, to take advantage of their limited time til the park closed. They had decided to skip the food and head straight to the rides. Eventually when someone got bored or sick they would head to the best part, the game booths.</p><p> </p><p>So that was what they did, they went on almost every ride, with stops in between to take photos. Even getting Damian to join in for one picture making funny faces. Taking a brief rest by a gift shop, Medea snorted when she saw the sweater, laughing at the memory it brought back.</p><p> </p><p>&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;</p><p>
  <b>Flashback</b>
</p><p> </p><p>That had been a day to remember, Medea had woken up and stumbled into the kitchen looking for coffee. Slade and Joey had been in there making breakfast.</p><p> </p><p>“Coffee’s just about finished”</p><p>“Thanks dad”</p><p> </p><p>“...” </p><p>“...” <em> Why is everyone looking at me? </em></p><p> </p><p>“DID YOU JUST CALL HIM DAD?!?” </p><p>“Rose, not so loud it’s early.”</p><p>“Pshh whatever old man. But did you??” </p><p>“NO! No! I said thanks man”</p><p> </p><p>“Joey, back me up here”</p><p>“Hate to agree with Rose-”</p><p>“HEY!”<br/>“-but you did” signs Joey </p><p> </p><p>“Do you see me as a father figure, Medea?”<br/>“W-wha err… no, I see you as a bother figure, since you always bother me and Rose”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, that’s no way to speak to your father!” cackles Rose</p><p>“Show your father some respect!” signs Joey with some difficulty, he was trying hard to stay upright. He was too busy silently laughing at the whole situation.</p><p>Yeah that was a …. moment, Medea was never going to live that down. Guess she can check accidentally acquiring a parental figure off her list. <em> Not that she minded Slade being one. </em></p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>And if the next time Rose and Medea caused chaos while using Wilson as their last names, nobody commented on their choice of names. Slade had only complained about them being “nosey brats always getting into trouble”.</p><p>&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, what are you staring at?” </p><p>“Look, Rose” pulling out a ridiculously large sweater “ ‘#1 dad’ I feel like Dad would love this”</p><p>Rose stares at the hideous garment before smirking “Why sister dearest, I do believe he will”</p><p> </p><p>“Joey, what are the two laughing obnoxiously about?”<br/>“Ignore them, let’s go check out the ride over there”</p><p> </p><p>When they reached the booths, they split up in groups, having had their eye on specific booths. Damian and Medea targeted the ones with live fish as a prize. Joey and Rose headed toward the sharpshooter booths. </p><p> </p><p>After getting a number of goldfish deemed sufficient by Damian, they went back to join the others. At that booth, the operator seemed to perk up as he saw new customers coming. Maybe he would get a chance to earn back money for the prizes the Wilson siblings kept piling up. Or not. The moment the two reached Rose and Joey, they promptly crushed the operator's hopes. </p><p> </p><p>“Dami, what do you say we show them who is better?”</p><p>“I suppose so, but there’s no point in showing them when the results are already obvious.”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey! Just for that, you’re on!”</p><p> </p><p>And that was only the beginning.</p><p> </p><p>When the booth started to run low on prizes, the operator all but begged the four of them to move on. Since there was no option, they agreed. They simply moved onto the next booth, repeated the whole process until they were asked to move on. </p><p> </p><p>Eventually the pile of prizes grew too big, they picked out a few and started giving the rest out to anyone interested. Joey and Damian grew bored and were relegated to keeping a tally. By the third booth, a small crowd had formed around them, cheering on either side. Medea swore she saw Joey and Damian running a betting ring amongst the crowd on the winner. At this point, some kids would come up and ask them to win them a specific prize. The two girls had no problem with that, might as well do it for a good cause.</p><p> </p><p>Then there it was. The final obstacle, the tiebreaker.</p><p> </p><p>Just as both girls were about to aim for the balloon, they were stopped by a worker.</p><p> </p><p>“Hello, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you girls to leave the park. We have been getting reports of your party causing a commotion. Your group has been disturbing the other guests.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> What. Slade and Talia are definitely going to scold them. Oops? </em>
</p><p> </p><p>They ended up getting escorted off the premises by a worker and also being banned from the booths in the event that they came back. The four had shared a look, promising revenge if anyone dared to spill the beans on them getting banned. </p><p> </p><p>That promise hadn’t lasted long. </p><p> </p><p>Rose had accidentally spilled the beans the moment they were asked how their excursion went. </p><p> </p><p>“You know, maybe it was a good thing that you don’t go undercover that often..”</p><p>
  <em> Pffttt </em>
</p><p>“Daddd! <em> Hmph </em> whatever, but just wait until you see what we got you.”</p><p>“...”</p><p>“Isn’t it so pretty?” Rose triumphantly displays the hideous, hot-pink sweater, making sure everyone in the room gets a good look at the words ‘#1 dad’. In the background, Medea is sure that she heard Talia disguising her snort of laughter as coughs.</p><p> </p><p>Slade is silent, staring at the shirt as if he’d rather drink poison than admit that the shirt was ‘nice’. “I-it’s definitely one of a kind, v-very unique.”</p><p> </p><p>“See that’s what I thought you would say. You know, Medea and I spent an awful long time picking it out. And since we are here for her grad we should take a group photo together. With the sweater on.”</p><p> </p><p>“With the sweater?”</p><p> </p><p>“Of course, are you really going to ignore the effort we put into finding your gift?” With that, Rose glances at Medea and pulls out the big guns, the puppy eyes™ . </p><p><br/>Following Rose’s cue, Medea does the same toward Slade. Slade glances between the two of them. A moment passes, the three are stuck in a deadlock. Slade’s the first to break eye contact. <em> Hah! </em></p><p> </p><p><em> Huff </em> “...Fine”</p><p> </p><p>“<b>Thanks Dad!</b>”</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>“Joseph William Wilson! Don’t you dare send that to Wintergreen.”</p><p>Joey shrugs in <strike>faux</strike> apology  “oops”</p><p> </p><hr/><p>Turns out Rose’s grad gift to her was a girl’s trip around the world. No mission attached, just one as civilians. Somehow she’d gotten her parents to agree for them to go, on the condition that they gave them regular updates. </p><p> </p><p>Their first stop had been Asia. There they stopped at various corners, starting at Shanghai and moving on to Singapore, Dubai, Bali and more. They made sure to keep their promise and kept in touch with their parents. Oftentimes, they would send pictures and or little trinkets to show off where they had travelled to. Medea had found a beautiful ceremonial dao in Shanghai and sent it off to Talia.</p><p> </p><p>Once in a while, Ravager and Nyx would appear instead of Rose and Medea. They would stop and take out any trash. Afterall, cleaning up the environment was a duty every citizen should do. And if the trash included scum, well who were they to argue against doing their civic responsibility.</p><p> </p><p>During one of their fights, Rose’s phone had been destroyed. She had shrugged it off since she didn’t have much to lose on it, Rose just used Medea’s phone to keep Slade updated. </p><p>The two had continued on their tour to Europe, starting in Rome and working their way toward England. </p><p> </p><p>This was where things started going downhill.</p><p> </p><p>First Medea’s phone was destroyed. In Rome, they had caught on to a human trafficking ring. During their pursuit, they had accidentally destroyed the phone. They hadn’t had enough time to replace it, as it had quickly changed to a lower priority. The ring had deeper connections than expected, the mob having help from several government officials. </p><p> </p><p>It may have slipped their minds to call in once or twice. But that was no biggie, right?</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>Unfortunately, Deathstroke seemed to disagree. Which led to their current predicament…</p><p> </p><p>The two had finished dismantling the ring, destroyed the warehouse and got the victims out.  They had perched themselves on a nearby rooftop to catch their breath. That was when they spotted a familiar figure, Deathstroke. Right in front of them. Silently staring <strike>and glaring</strike> at them. </p><p> </p><p>Ravager took the initiative to break the silence “Deathstroke, didn’t know you were in the area”</p><p> </p><p>“...”<br/><br/></p><p>
  <em> Whumfff  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Ouch  </em>
</p><p><em><br/></em> <em> Did Ravager really just shove me? </em> Stumbling, Nyx grabbed whatever was in front of her. To her horror, it was Deathstroke.</p><p> </p><p>“Every man for himself!” </p><p> </p><p>“Hey!”  <em> Seriously Rose? Harsh.  </em></p><p>She could hear Ravager running the other way.</p><p>“You better hope I don’t catch you, Ravager.” </p><p>
  <em> Oh we are sooo screwed.</em>
</p><p>He looks down at her “Head to the safehouse on 15th, there’s also someone else who is waiting for you.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Yeah, they were definitely in big, BIG trouble.</em>
</p><p>Nyx froze in shock “...oops?”</p><hr/><p> </p><p>Rose and Slade’s bickers could be heard from across the room. Personally, Medea felt that she preferred that to Talia’s silent reproach.</p><p> </p><p>“...”</p><p>“I’m sorry mom, I didn’t mean to make you guys worry.”</p><p>“...”</p><p>“I promise never to do it again?”</p><p><em> Huff </em> “Medea, did you ever think about what kind of message your lack of communication would send? No word for 3 weeks, how were we supposed to know if the two of you had gotten into some trouble? The League may be powerful, but there are always people in the shadows waiting for an opportunity. Also, you know as well as I that that is an empty promise. Trouble is automatically attracted to you, even if you don’t do much.”  </p><p>Toward the end, Talia mock scoffs at the possibility of them staying out of trouble.</p><p> </p><p><em> Pheww T isn’t as angry as I thought she’d be </em>“But really mom, I’m sorry I forgot”.</p><p>“Hmm... “</p><p>“...” <em> On second thought, mom seems to be taking this calmer than I thought…  </em></p><p>“Since we are finished, let’s join them over there” Talia gestures to the group across the room.</p><p>“Ok”</p><p> </p><p>The silence is so very very awkward. Rose glances at her.</p><p>
  <em> How’d it go? </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Mom’s mad, but not as mad as I thought.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> You think they planned something? </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Probably.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>A light cough brings them back to attention. </p><p>“Well girls, I hope you have both learned something today regarding following instructions. Get some rest, Slade and I have things to discuss”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes mom.”</p><p>“Yes ma’am.”</p><p> </p><p>As they scurry up the stairs, Medea pauses at the top long enough to hear the words ‘suitable punishment’ and ‘tomorrow’.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Oh no.</em>
</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Keep an eye out for Slade's tired dad POV! It should be up as a separate one shot later today.</p><p> </p><p>Edit: Slade's tired dad POV is out! It can be found as part 3 of the series.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Post graduation life for Medea. Somehow she feels that her life is better than before, she couldn’t imagine anything that would change it. This is where her luck kicks in. At a gala, some secrets are revealed.</p><p>Enter stage right: Timothy Drake and Richard Grayson</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After her graduation, Medea decided to follow Talia and work at Head Industries in New York. By following in Talia's steps, an added bonus was that she got to be close to her family. Talia had bought a penthouse and the 3 of them lived together, with Damian attending a nearby school.</p><p>Staying in contact with the Wilsons was just as easy as before, especially with Slade and Rose being able to dictate their own schedules. In fact, Rose often brought Eddie along for their hangouts. Both Medea and Joey suspected they were together, but they were just waiting for them to confirm it and said nothing. <em>Well Joey just wanted to watch Slade's reaction when Rose told him</em>. Joey moved around a bit, currently he was in San Francisco for an art exhibition. But they still kept in touch through video calls and messages. </p><p>Her time spent at university made her realize that vigilantism was not the only way she could help others. Talia noticed and had given her control of the charity that Head Industries did. </p><p>Medea's childhood and even her time as Robin had taught her that many people turned to crime as a last resort. Mind you, she wasn't talking about the high profile villains like Black Mask or the Penguin. But the ones who turned to it because there was nothing else they could do. </p><p>She worked at providing opportunities for those that had never been given one or those who needed a second chance. To help those in need and stop them before they even considered crime as an option. </p><p>Her ideas were sometimes looked down on, as many felt she was just another spoiled rich kid, undeserving of her position. Under her direction, Head Industries funded a lot of the money back into the community. They had programs that helped rehabilitate convicts, those with addictions, veterans who were struggling to readjust to civilian life and give more opportunities to schools who had more students from low income families.</p><p>She made sure that the programs being set up not only helped people with physical aspects of their life, but also their mental health. After all, she had first hand experience with mental health. Both from her trauma and from her childhood. How many villains in Gotham had become who they were due to some aspect of mental health being neglected? Arkham Asylum was a joke, a revolving door that did nothing to help those there. </p><p>Another group she focused on helping (but not stated outright to the public) were heroes that were trying to retire or any metas who were trying to stay below radar to live a normal civilian life. One such case was Roy Harper, the former speedy had been struggling as a single father. He was a great inventor and Head Industries had scouted him for his talent, he was now the head of a research department and many of his inventions were changing the market. </p><p>And her results spoke for themselves. Schools that were struggling were getting a higher and higher amount of students that were passing, they were also able to reduce the number of students who dropped out. Their programs helped many families secure a legitimate source of income, so children could stay in school. </p><p>A lot of the opportunities provided were positions at Head Industries.  At first there was a lot of concern whether the company would be at a disadvantage from the employee benefits she’d planned to give. It was extremely generous, providing a range of health care benefits and accomodations. This was one of the things she stood firm on, she’d refused to maximize the company’s profit by giving the barest benefits. Believing that people should be treated the way as you would like to be treated. </p><p>Talia had been the one to sign off on her decision, trusting Medea. They hadn’t realized it then, but that was one of the stepping stones to securing their employee's loyalty. Head Industries soon rivaled Wayne Enterprises as one of the best places to work at. Within a few years, Talia and Medea had worked hard to make Head Industries an international corporation. </p><p>To promote themselves, they often held competitions for university students to scout for new talent. Winners were given an internship and a substantial amount of money for their tuition, often more than enough to be considered a full ride scholarship. A good majority of the time, interns would return after graduation to work for Head Industries.</p><p> </p><p>As time went on, she took on more roles and responsibilities within the company.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Scouting for talent and business deals would sometimes require her to travel, which led to her current situation...</p><p>“Dad? Why are you here? Not that I mind, but I thought you were on a job abroad?”</p><p>“Yep.”</p><p>“Have you finished?”</p><p>“Nope.”</p><p>“...”</p><p><em>This had Talia written all over it</em>. Just because she refused to bring assassins bodyguards with her as backup, Talia sent Deathstroke instead.</p><p> </p><p>She really didn’t need the extra protection, she could handle herself.  Besides she was trained by some of the best masters in the world. </p><p>But she also understood Talia’s worries. During her last business trip, she managed to gain a stalker, who had followed her back to New York. Who coincidentally was a serial killer that had decided she was their next victim. That had been a mess. </p><p> </p><p>“Do I really need an excuse to see you? Besides the target isn’t arriving till tomorrow, so I’ve got time to visit”</p><p>“Fine, but I’ve got a bunch of paperwork I need to finish first.” </p><p>“That’s fine, I can wait” Slade smirked.</p><p>
  <em> Yeah, Slade definitely knew what he was doing. </em>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>Her suspicions were confirmed the next morning when Slade showed up as her driver to the meeting place. He was barely in disguise too.</p><p>Medea gritted her teeth. <em> What had she done to earn such overprotective parents? For heaven’s sake, this wasn’t even a league meeting. It was just a meeting between her and a potential client.  </em></p><p> </p><p>Taking advantage of her team not having arrived yet, Medea stalked forward to confront Slade.</p><p>“What happened to the driver?”</p><p>“Driver? Ohh you mean the original one. Well he fell sick, so I was called in to fill in the vacancy.”</p><p>“ I didn’t know <em> Deathstroke </em>did undercover work right now.”</p><p>“He doesn’t. I finished that hours ago.”</p><p>“...what?”</p><p>“What can’t a father help out his kid?”</p><p>Medea narrows her eyes at his smug expression “...”</p><p>“Besides if you get me to leave right now, you won’t get another driver and make it on time.”</p><p> </p><p>Slade has a point, a very good point. The rest of her team is starting to head towards the car, if she fires him right now, she needs some sort of explanation. One that she doesn’t have. At least not a good reason. </p><p> </p><p>“Fine, you can stay.”</p><p>“Not like you could have convinced me to leave” Slade laughs. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Ohhh when she got back, she was going to enlist Rose and Joey’s help for revenge. </em>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The only thing she hated about civilian life was the galas. Personally, they were a mental torture event. There were always so many vapid socialites and she hated interacting with them. Due to her position in the company and her status as the eldest child of the Head family, many of the families tried to get her set up with their children. </p><p>Even Damian wasn’t safe. He was only 13, yet he was approached by other children who were mostly ordered to befriend him for his status. </p><p>Though some guests were easier to interact with. Luthor was a favourite, he may be a part-time supervillain, but the man was a genius. He wouldn’t be running LexCorp for so long otherwise. It was a shame that she hadn’t bumped into Conner again, their last interaction had been enjoyable. </p><p>The only benefit she had from interacting with them would be their contributions provided she played her cards right. Talia had made sure she was properly prepared for galas. No matter how much she disliked attending them, she could easily charm the guests over <em>if</em> she wanted to.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Currently, they were in Metropolis, LexCorp had extended an invitation to their family for a fundraiser. Their whole family was in attendance, even Ra’s. It had been a while since most of the family had gotten together. Joey and Slade had also been invited. Joey was one of the artists who donated his artwork for the auction happening later, while Slade had been on a job as a bodyguard. </p><p>So far, the fundraiser was going quite well. Lex had stopped by earlier to greet them. The socialites were still trying to set her up, but she decided to deter them by sticking to her siblings. Damian and her had worked out a system; he would play the role of the bratty younger brother to help her out, while she would come to his aid and say a family member was looking for him when he was in trouble. Joey said he'd try to help but gave no guarantees. Privately, Medea thought that he just liked seeing her get in trouble.</p><p> </p><p>Talia caught on pretty quick and split them up. Damian was ordered to stay within Talia’s eyesight and Medea was ordered to tag along with Ra’s. After a while, Ra’s must have noticed her annoyance at men who would ignore her input and attempt to mansplain her job to her. He <strike>shooed her away</strike> let her go off by herself, telling her to go mingle. </p><p>Unfortunately, some of the guests seem to mistake her alone as wanting company. There was a man chatting her up, continuously ignoring her hints that she wished to be alone. He was bragging about his annual income. Medea was barely paying attention, instead she was trying to signal to Joey for help.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Any help here? </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Joey, I know you can hear me.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> You’re literally telepathic and staring right at me </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Fine, you got me. I’ll be right over. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Just as Joey started to approach her direction, he was approached by some guests about commissioning his artwork. He shot her an apologetic look  </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> I’ll get pops to come over, if I see him.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Ok </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Make it soon, I can’t stand this guy any longer. </em>
</p><p>
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</p><p>Medea focused back onto the conversation, the guy hadn’t said anything new. He was still droning on and on about his company. Gosh now, he was talking about the benefits if they worked together. And it sounded like he wanted other things besides working with her company too. <em>Ewww</em></p><p> </p><p>“Of course, that sounds lovely. Why don’t you have your assistant contact Head Industries for an appointment? We can always sit down and discuss it in detail later” <em> Oh god, please let me leave now. Also remind me to not accept your proposal, it's literally the worst.  </em></p><p>“Well, that would be great. But don’t you think we should hammer out the details first-”</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly a large hand appears on her shoulder “Do you mind if I cut in? I wish to speak to Ms. Head on some very important matters” The man startles and looks up to see Slade. His imposing figure and attitude must be quite intimidating as the man quickly bumbles through an apology for taking up her time and flees back into the crowd.</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you” she sighs. “I don’t know what I would have done if he kept talking any longer.”</p><p>Slade smirks “I think you could have probably handled it on your own.”</p><p>“No, I think I might have decked him to get him to shut up.”</p><p>Slade laughs at the thought “That would have been a sight to see. I can see the headlines, 'heiress decks man at gala. More at 7'.”</p><p> </p><p>As they chuckled and made small talk, they missed the two pairs of eyes staring at them from across the room.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>On the other side of the room, Conner had been bored out of his mind. He had only attended this gala in support of LexCorp’s fundraiser, as it wouldn’t do for the CEO's son to not appear. At least he had Tim. Though he was here with his brother, Dick Grayson, as representatives of Wayne Enterprises. </p><p>As CEO, Tim had been instantly approached by many investors and socialites, so right now he had nobody to talk to. He noticed someone familiar across the room, smiling he turned to approach them. It had been a while since he last saw them. Besides she looked slightly annoyed at the man talking to her, she'd likely welcome a distraction to get away.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Tim, you’re back?”</p><p>“Yeah, seems like I finally managed to shake off the last one.”</p><p>“How was it?”</p><p>“Same as usual, everyone is wanting to make a deal with W.E. Did you notice the people here?” in a more hushed tone, Tim whispers “I think I saw Ra’s Al-Ghul, he doesn’t leave Nanda Parbat often. He may be up to something.”</p><p>“What?!?”</p><p>“Shhh not so loud. But it should be fine, he wouldn’t do anything in public. So who were you looking at?”</p><p>“Tim! You can’t just change the topic like that” sputters Kon.</p><p>“I’ll tell you later, but will you answer the question?”</p><p>“Oh, I was going to say hi to the girl over there. I met Medea a while back and was planning to chat with her till you got back. If you want I can introduce you?”</p><p>“Sure”</p><p> </p><p>Just as they are about to head over, they watch a tall man approach and scare the other man away. When he turns, Tim is shocked to see Deathstroke. The gears in his mind are whirring at the possibilities. <em> What is her identity? Is she in trouble or is she trouble? She must be powerful to gain the attention of Deathstroke the Terminator. </em></p><p>
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</p><p>“Come on, weren’t you going to introduce me?” Tim starts tugging Kon across.</p><p>“Yes, yes. I will.” Kon tilts his head “What’s wrong?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“That’s your detective face, is something up?”</p><p>“What? I don’t have a detective face. Nothing’s wrong, at least not yet.” Tim frowns “It’s just a hunch for now.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p><br/>Slade and Medea are still joking around. Honestly this made her more comfortable, now if only she could convince Slade to scare off the rest of the guests that approached her for the rest of the evening. It was probably possible. Lost in her musings, Slade is the first to notice the two teens approaching. He leans down to whisper “birdie and his friend are approaching, maybe they think they need to rescue you from the big bad terminator”</p><p>Medea giggles at the thought. The two quickly switch their conversation to something more appropriate for the gala. By the time the teens reach them, they are talking about the fundraiser and Joey's artwork. </p><p> </p><p>Just as she last remembered, Conner was pleasant to talk to. R<strike>eplacement</strike> Tim Drake is equally pleasant and charming, but the conversation was rather stilted. It may have been due to Slade’s presence. But he was clearly enjoying how awkward the teens felt and made no effort to change it. </p><p>Once Tim had realized she was Medea Head, his questions had been more probing, trying to figure out her connection to the Al-Ghuls. To the public, she was the eldest daughter of the Head Family. Both Ra’s and Talia had publicly claimed her. She’d enjoyed responding in the vaguest possible way, never revealing any more than the public knew about her. She had also been slightly annoyed, it showed that never once did the bats look into her identity.<em> Were they really that dense? To them she was probably nothing more than an obstacle in between them and her family. But I guess I have changed quite a bit since those days. </em></p><p> </p><p>
  <em> If Drake is here, then Bruce or Dick might also be present… well this was going to happen eventually. Having such a public persona would have led me meeting the Waynes again at some point. Is that Damian? Why is he… oh no, I better go over and help-</em>
</p><p>“I’m so sorry to interrupt, but I should check in on my little brother. He seems to need my attention. It was nice catching up to you Conner. Pleasure to meet you Mr. Drake” With that Medea flashes a smile at the teens and nods at Slade, before disappearing into the crowd.</p><p>Slade slips off too, robbing the teens the chance to question his presence. Leaving the two teens alone by the balconies. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Really, Tim?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“She called you Mr. Drake, maybe you should have toned down your interrogation a bit?”</p><p>“No, that shouldn’t be possible… but that smile… only if… Bruce..“</p><p>“Tim? Tim, what are you talking about?”</p><p>“That was Robin!”</p><p>“Aren’t you Robin?”</p><p>“I’ve got to find Dick, come on. I’ll explain everything to you at the same time to him.”</p><p>“..okayy but it better be a good explanation to what you just pulled right there.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As they are maneuvering around the venue, they hear the beginnings of a commotion. By the buffet table, they hear familiar voices arguing, Medea and Dick. As they approach closer, they see a young boy that Medea is trying to lead away while Dick is preventing them from leaving.</p><p>In his anger, Dick is gripping her with a force that would have caused any other civilian to cry out. Fortunately, she is no ordinary civilian. Medea swore in her head that if he didn't let go soon enough, she would retaliate. She could care less if she caused a scene. </p><p> </p><p>“Tt. Let go of my sister, Grayson.  I have no interest in what you are saying.”</p><p>“You… You hid him from us? How dare you? He has a right to know his own father!”</p><p>“Take your hands off me this instant. Besides you heard what he said. You’re causing a scene <em> Dickie” </em>Medea flashes a cold smile, all teeth “Dami, go find mother or grandfather”</p><p> </p><p>“Ukht-”</p><p>“Go.”</p><p> </p><p>The young boy glares in response, refusing to leave.</p><p> </p><p>“No, stay right there. Don’t order him around.”</p><p> </p><p>Tim and Conner share a look and increase their pace toward them. By the time they reach them, Tim is able to clearly see the source of the fuss. Unlike Medea, the boy is a perfect mix of Talia Al-Ghul and... and Bruce Wayne. Bruce. <em>Oh my god.</em> <em> There was no way Bruce knew, he would never let someone like her to raise his son. The moment he got out of the gala, he had tp tell Bruce what had happened. That and about <strike>Jason Todd</strike> Medea Head. That smile had been the Robin smile, there was no way he would forget it. Especially since he had so many photos and memories of it from his pre-Robin days.</em></p><p> </p><p>Turning slightly, Medea glares at the teens, before turning back toward the boy “Now!”</p><p>This time the boy obeys. Just as Tim reaches out to stop him, he slips out of his grasp and away into the crowd. </p><p> </p><p>“No!” Dick cries, instantly he lets out a hiss of pain.</p><p>Medea had taken advantage of his distracted state and kicked his ankle to twist out of his grasp. Normally Dick wouldn’t be affected, however he recently injured it and Medea had made use of that.</p><p> </p><p>“How dare you?” Dick is pissed.</p><p>He must not recognize her. </p><p>
  <em>Good, I have no plans to see him again. Though I can't blame him, their interactions had been few and brief.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“My my is this how guests are treated at galas now? Cornering guests and harassing them” Medea mocks looking directly at Conner. In response, he blushed and looked away. The scene had looked bad, yet he hadn’t done anything to stop it. </p><p>“Do you think this is funny? This isn’t a game, you know? You are manipulating an innocent boy into your twisted plans” Dick spits out.</p><p>“Of course, it’s not a game. But I find it funny how you can’t listen to what you are told. You were already told that he had no further interest in speaking to you. Why would you not let him go?”  She turns to leave, turning back she adds “Doesn’t seem like you have changed much, <em> DickWing </em>. You really should think before you speak”</p><p>Dick colours and lunges, grabbing onto her and stopping her from leaving. Medea turns back, her annoyance is clear. Her free hand rises, aiming for Dick’s face. Tim and Conner are frozen, neither knowing who to help or what to do. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>However a large hand appears and starts squeezing Dick’s upper arm painfully. Startled he looks up to see the hand connected to a very familiar face, Deathstroke. “Slade” he hisses “what are you here for?”</p><p>“Let go of her now, Richard. I won’t repeat myself.”</p><p>“Did she hire you?”</p><p>In response, Slade simply squeezed tighter and tighter until he had to let go of her or risk his arm getting snapped.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Richard, I must say that I didn’t expect to see you under these circumstances” </p><p><em> Oh great, another villain? </em> Dick glances back to see Ra’s beside Medea. Damian must have slipped off to find him. <em> He had to convince the boy to leave the Al-Ghuls, they were nothing but trouble. </em> </p><p>A quick glance around shows the bodyguards nearby Ra's. They are all positioned in such a way that the rest of the guests can't clearly see what is happening. Though Dicks suspects there are a few more, who are probably disguised as guests and staff members.</p><p>“Ra’s. Well, what can I say? I aim to be unexpected.”</p><p>“Your sense of humour remains unchanged.”</p><p>“Piss off Ra’s. What are you here for?”</p><p>“A warning. You may have manhandled my grandchildren once. But this incident will never occur again. Otherwise, you may find some of your limbs missing. The same goes to you Detective” Ra's says eyeing Tim and Conner. </p><p>Sputtering, Dick flounders “Your grandchildren, I don’t care about the girl. But the boy-”</p><p> </p><p>Ra’s simply ignores him and turns to Medea. “Come, your mother and I have had enough of this gala. They are waiting in the car”</p><p>“Of course grandfather”  Before leaving, she glances back at Slade. They share a look.</p><p>“Don’t worry, I’ll catch up. Just need to make sure some loose ends are tied up.”</p><p>Nodding, she loops her arm into Ra’s offered arm and they depart with bodyguards following closely behind.</p><p> </p><p>Once they are out of sight, Dick whirls back to confront Slade.</p><p> </p><p>“You!”</p><p>“You heard what The Demon’s Head said. If I were you, I’d listen.”</p><p>“We had a deal.”</p><p>“The deal was not to kill any of the bats. Besides there was nothing against some <em>light</em> maiming” Slade snaps, before pushing past them.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Now that their identities are revealed, what happens next? How does one react to learning about the existence of not one, but two children.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em> Huff. </em>That could have gone better. Deep down, Medea knows she would have seen them again. She isn't foolish enough to believe that they won't attempt to contact Damian again. Bats are too stubborn for that. </p><p>As they left, she had seen the look of recognition on Drake's face. If she had to wager a guess, all the other bats would likely be informed by tonight. <em>Now what would the Bat's next move be?</em></p><p> </p><p>“Habibi, are you alright? You’ve been so quiet”</p><p>“Huh, yeah” blinking Medea notices that everyone was glancing at her “I’m fine. Honestly mom, nothing’s wrong.”</p><p>“Are you sure?”</p><p>“Yeah”</p><p>Talia simply raises an eyebrow, unfooled by her attempt. But she doesn’t press further.</p><p> </p><p>“Tt.” Damian interjects “let me see your arm ukht, the fool was gripping it so tightly.”</p><p>Before she can respond, Damian grabs her arm lightly to inspect it. “Look mother, he left marks.” </p><p>“It's just a little red.”</p><p> </p><p>Scoffing, he proceeds to poke it making her hiss in discomfort.</p><p> </p><p>“Dami! Ouch, why'd you poke it?”</p><p>"You taught me that lying was bad" Damian retorts.</p><p>“Habibi..” Talia reproaches.</p><p>“Mom, it’s not serious. It’ll disappear pretty soon.”</p><p>“Still you shouldn’t have omitted that.”</p><p> </p><p>“T…” Medea drags out, acting like a spoilt child.</p><p>Chuckling Talia responds “Let a mother fuss over her children, hmm?”</p><p>
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</p><p>By the time they returned home, the atmosphere was lighter.  Of course, the annoyance was still hanging there. But both Talia and Ra’s had assured them that they would not be forced into any situation that they didn't want. </p><p>The family had relaxed together for a bit, before everyone started to drift off. Damian went off to bed since he had school the following day, Talia and Ra’s were off discussing League business and had extended the invitation to her, but she had declined wanting some time alone. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>So there she was, sitting on the rooftop and staring at the night sky. <em> Tonight was a mess. Even though Damian’s presence couldn’t have stayed hidden forever, I wish it didn’t happen so soon. And Drake. I didn’t think he would be there- </em></p><p> </p><p>“Medea” </p><p>Without turning around, she recognizes the voice “Dad?”</p><p>“Yeah”</p><p> </p><p>Clade in his signature armour, Slade is on the rooftop and joins her by the edge. They sit in a companionable silence for a bit. He doesn't press her for details. Instead Slade sits with her and waits until she is ready to share her thoughts.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>I wonder if I can distract him from talking about tonight's gala. Hmm...</em>
</p><p>Eventually, Medea gives in and breaks the silence.</p><p>“I missed seeing Joey’s art pieces tonight, he wanted to show me his new pieces.”<br/>“Given tonight's events, I’m sure he understands. Plus he told me that you can make it up to him at the next one.”</p><p> </p><p>“Mm-hmm” as she gestures to his attire, “Are you leaving for a job? <strike>Can you stay in town for a few more days? </strike>” </p><p> </p><p>“Not exactly, but I do have a job in town lined up.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>“It’s undercover.”</p><p>“...” unconsciously, she frowns. <em>That means she won’t be seeing him for a bit. Those jobs tend to drag on for a while.  </em></p><p>Slade continues on, oblivious to her reaction “you know the job I have is pretty interesting. I have to babysit a troublesome brat, who also has equally troublesome siblings-”</p><p><em> Troublesome brat? Wait a sec- </em>Whipping her head toward Slade, who has stopped talking.</p><p> </p><p>With a smug face he says “took you long enough”.</p><p>“Daaddd” she pouts “wait, wait. Were you serious about that?”</p><p>“Guess you’ll have to see. But I’ll be in town for a while.”</p><p>“Hmmph”</p><p> </p><p>Slade chuckles at her look of annoyance. </p><p> </p><p>“But let’s talk about something else, were you really going to deck Grayson at the gala?”</p><p>“... yeah” she pauses “but only because he wouldn’t listen or let go. He kept on squeezing my arm and refused to stop.” with that she casually gestures to her arm, “And you know, it’s sort of frowned upon in polite society to stab people. Or I might have resorted to that.”</p><p>“...”</p><p> </p><p>Slade is strangely silent.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Had she said something wrong? She knew Slade tried to recruit Dick at one point, but it didn’t work out. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Was that a sore subject?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Slade grits his next words out “Your arm. He did that?”</p><p>“Y-yes, b-but it’s looks worse than it it actually is” </p><p>“Let me be the judge of that”  he lightly inspects her arm. Unlike Damian, he doesn’t prod it on purpose to make his point. “I should have snapped his arm for that” he mutters.</p><p> </p><p>“Isn’t that a bit extreme?”</p><p>“No. If anything, it’s too lenient. Next time, you shouldn’t downplay your injuries. Just because you can handle it, doesn’t mean that you should. Understand?”</p><p>“Ok”</p><p>“....”<br/>“Fine, fine. I promise.”</p><p>“Good. Now shouldn’t you be in bed or something? I thought you had a few meetings tomorrow.”</p><p> </p><p><em> Huff. Yeah Slade probably wasn’t joking when he said he had a ‘job’. Between him and Talia, they probably know my schedule better than me. </em>“I do, but they happen later in the day. I’ll go inside in a bit, but I want to stay out here for a bit longer."</p><p>“Hmmph”</p><p>“Dad...stay with me?”</p><p>“Of course.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <strong>A hotel across town:</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>“What?!?”</p><p>“Calm down, let me finish-”</p><p>“T-Tim, are you certain? You mean to tell me th-that Jason is alive? How - does anyone else know? Bruce? Alfred?”</p><p> </p><p>Soon after their spectacle at the gala, Dick and Tim had returned to their hotel. Their argument had attracted quite an audience, with guests starting to gossip the moment the Al-Ghuls left. They had quickly made excuses that Dick had too much to drink and Tim played the caring brother who took him back to the hotel to recover.</p><p> </p><p>The moment they entered the hotel, Tim had spilled his findings. Or at least tried to.</p><p>“Dick, if you would just take a breathe, I can explain what I know”</p><p>Chastised Dick sits back down, running his hands through his hair in frustration “Sorry Tim, it’s just a lot to take in. Everything that has happened today is just.. just … ya know?”</p><p>“Yeah, I get it. But please just listen to what I have to say first before you say anything else.”</p><p>“Alright.”</p><p> </p><p>After hearing out Tim, Dick is bewildered. T-the girl is Jason? His little wing is alive. Alive but with the Al-Ghuls? And then there’s the matter with Damian. He had to get the both of them away from the Al-Ghuls. Nothing good ever came out of The League. He had to let B know. They had to save them.</p><p> </p><p>After voicing his concerns, Tim nods in agreement.</p><p>“But the question is how? Damian is easy to prove, but Jason no- Medea… he might not believe us”</p><p>“Leave that to me” states Tim “I have an appointment with the CEO of Head Industries tomorrow. I’ll see what I can get out of Talia.”</p><p>“Ok, that sounds like a plan. Be careful.”</p><p>“I will. Let’s contact B now.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Medea was drumming her fingers on her desk. Her newly appointed position as CEO was still one she was getting used to. After seeing the results that Medea brought in, Talia felt that she was ready to take on the role of CEO. Talia was still owner of Head Industries, the handover to her was a slow process to help her familiarize to her new position. In addition, the announcement would be made public in the coming days.</p><p>Grimacing at the gala that would likely be held in celebration, she sighs and mentally reviews her schedule. A knock on the door interrupts her thoughts and her assistant walks in.</p><p> </p><p>“Ms. Head?”</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>“Mr. Drake is here for his meeting with you. He’s here on behalf of W.E.”</p><p>“I see, please escort him in. Thank you.”</p><p> </p><p>She hears her assistant leave and waits for her to re-enter. </p><p> </p><p>Drake is clearly surprised with her presence, likely expected to be meeting Talia. The brief flicker of surprise is present for a second, before he masks it. </p><p> </p><p>“Ms. Head?”</p><p>“Yes, welcome Mr. Drake.” </p><p>“... Forgive me if I come off as rude. But I was under the impression that I was meeting the CEO today.”</p><p>“You are.”</p><p>“Pardon? I'm afraid I don't follow.”</p><p>“Head Industries is currently undergoing new management. While the knowledge hasn't been released to the public yet, I am the CEO in all but that aspect. I can assure you that I am just as qualified.”</p><p>“I-I see”</p><p>“If you don’t have any other concerns, shall we talk business then?” gesturing for Drake to take a seat.</p><p>“Certainly.”</p><p> </p><p>The meeting had gone relatively smooth. Drake knew what he was doing as CEO and was professional as a bat could be. Rather than discussing yesterday's events, he focused on the deal. Bruce had chosen his new <em>partner</em> well, one that could help him in both aspects of their double life. They had hammered out the details between the future project. It was only towards the end that she started getting annoyed.</p><p>Once they had finished the details. Drake revealed that he knew of her past identity and tried to pry for more details on what had happened. When she’d refused to elaborate, he tried to convince her to at least meet with Bruce, Alfred or Dick. Her patience was waning. <em>Had yesterday not made it clear that she didn’t want anything to do with them?</em></p><p> </p><p>“Mr. Drake, since we have finished here. I will send my lawyers to send over the finished contract once it has been completed.” she rises from her seat, making it clear that she was no longer interested in continuing the conversation.</p><p>Mimicking her actions, Drake gets up “Of course, it was a pleasure working with you. I hope you will consider my words”.</p><p>Narrowing her eyes, Medea responds “I hope that you will also take my words into consideration”.</p><p>“May I ask why you won’t return?”</p><p>“I’ve already explained it once, no further comment is needed.” </p><p> </p><p>Luck must be in her favour, as her assistant walks in at that moment, telling her that her next appointment has arrived. Thankfully Drake leaves with no more fuss, though he is slightly startled at the next person walking in. </p><p> </p><p>When the doors have finally closed shut, Talia speaks.</p><p> </p><p>“How has your first week been, habibi?”<br/>“Pretty good, I’ve been adjusting to the different workload. But it’s manageable so far.”</p><p>Neither of them point out the <em>elephant</em> in the room.</p><p>Instead Talia says “Since you have finished for the day, shall we head out?”</p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>As Talia waits for Medea to grab her things, she adds “Looks like we should call the exterminator, there’s been reports of unwanted bugs.”</p><p>“We really should. In fact, HR has put out a report saying they are doing a sweep today.”</p><p>“That’s good to hear, I’d hate to have an infestation happen-”</p><p> </p><p>Rather than throwing out the <em> figurative </em> bug, Medea grabs it from the underside of the table and disables it. A worker appears by the door without being prompted. <em>Hmmm...must be a league agent. </em> “Would you hand it to the correct department for me?” the worker nods  Thanks”  </p><p>
  <em>She may not need it yet, but leverage was important. Corporate espionage was a hard accusation for anyone to wash away. What a pity that BatTech and WayneTech were so familiar.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Turning back to Talia, she asks “So, where to next?”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The next few days pass by smoothly. Other than the bugging, the Bats had made no more moves. Her worries started to decrease. Now that she thought about it, the power that the Al-Ghuls (well technically the Heads) rivalled the Waynes in public standing, if not more. Bruce may run Gotham, but they were never playing in Gotham.</p><p>She spends her days as usual, going to work, being with friends and family. </p><p> </p><p>However, the tentative peace disappears at the next event they attend.</p><p>At a museum gala held to celebrate a new exhibit,  Bruce and Dick had 'coincidentally' shown up in attendance. Damian and her had been off to the side waiting for Talia to finish talking to a socialite, as they had no interest in joining in.  Taking advantage of their absence, Bruce and Dick had cornered Talia into a more secluded area to talk. Bruce had looked furious.  </p><p>Damian and her hadn’t caught all of the conversation; but they heard the words custody, Damian and son mentioned more than once. In addition, they also heard Talia smugly informing Bruce that she was under no legal obligation to do so. Especially since Bruce wasn’t put down on the birth certificate, nor as a legal guardian.</p><p>Bruce had turned a lovely shade of puce at her statement, while Dick paled and had to hold him back. The final blow was delivered by Damian, he spat out that he had no interest in getting to know the man. He already had a family and a sister, he didn’t see the need for anyone else. Bruce had staggered at that statement. That’s when he noticed Medea. </p><p> </p><p>It hurt that he hadn’t even noticed her till Damian’s mention. Regardless, he barely gave her a passing glance, before turning back to Damian. That had stung even more. </p><p>Damian must have noticed, since he squeezed her hand and began tugging her away to follow Talia.</p><p> </p><p>“Wait! Damian please” Bruce pleads. </p><p>“He’s made up his mind, old man. I’d suggest you’d listen” interjects Medea. </p><p>“Wha-” stunned at the interruption, Bruce stares at her. “Who are you t- … Jay?”</p><p>She watches the recognition appear in his eyes “took you long enough, you big boob”. With that she lets Damian tug her away, leaving the two men behind.</p><p> </p><p>If she had bothered to look back, she would have noticed their reactions. Bruce had practically collapsed, needing Dick to support him. Earlier Bruce had ignored Tim and Dick’s insistence that Medea was his Jason. He had heard the words 'Talia's child' and 'yours' and had blocked everything else out. Only focused on getting his son back. Now he couldn't believe his eyes. He had not one, but two children stolen from him. And it was all because of the cursed League.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The bats persist and as promised, retribution is swift.</p><p>Medea finds herself returning to Gotham. It's just a short visit, so nothing should go wrong, right?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>By the time, Bruce had composed himself, the trio had already left the venue. Giving him no chance to talk to any of them. </p><p>Gritting his teeth “Talia... Damn you!”</p><p>“Bruce, what do we do now?” </p><p>“We- I need to talk to Talia”</p><p><br/><br/>And that’s how Talia found him at Head Industries the next day. Bruce had gone alone, sending Dick back to Gotham to inform the others what had happened. He had argued with the front desk until Talia told them to let him up. </p><p>“Talia.”</p><p>“Beloved” she responds. <em> No not anymore. </em></p><p>“What have you done?”</p><p>“Will you elaborate? I’m afraid I’m not a mind reader.”</p><p>“You have my children.” </p><p>“You are mistaken, those are my children. Your children are <em>safe </em>at home in Gotham, aren’t they?”</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>“You stole her from me! And hid both of them, for years!” Bruce roars, slamming his hands onto her desk.</p><p>“I didn’t steal her. She stayed of her own free will. I'll admit that I hid Damian from you, but it was for his own good. If I let him live with you, would you have stopped him from being a masked hero? Or would he just be one of your many underlings?”</p><p>“Better than an assassin! The League is no place for a child.” </p><p>“And a hero's life is? At least I didn’t cause two children to die!” Talia snaps back “Damian is not a League member. He has not been forced into anything. Your assumptions are baseless, <em> Bruce.</em>”</p><p>Bruce flinches at the title change.</p><p> </p><p>The two are at a standstill. Bruce towers over Talia, while she remains seated at her desk and glares at him. </p><p> </p><p>“Do not bother my children again.”</p><p>“They are not yours! They are mine too! You’ve manipulated them into staying. And turned them against me.”</p><p>“I didn't turn them against you. You did it to yourself. You gave up that right!”</p><p>“What are you on about?”</p><p>“You lost that right to be her father when you buried her and twisted her image to fit your ideals. Her murderer remains free in that poor excuse of an asylum. You lost the right to be his father when you went and got another child killed in your crusade. Have you not learnt from your actions? How can I let you care for my children when you have repeated your mistakes with another?”</p><p>“How dare you? What grounds do you have to criticize-”</p><p> </p><p>“If they don’t want any contact with you, then you should learn to respect it. I’d suggest you leave the premises or the League will be the least of your worries.”</p><p>“What?”<br/>“In fact corporate espionage will only be the tip of the iceberg. Her father won’t be as merciful. Get out <em>Bruce</em>.”</p><p>Shocked, Bruce stares at her. <em>Father? What was Talia talking about? He was their father. Who did Talia use to manipulate his children into staying?  </em>His brain and mouth stopped cooperating with each other. Knowing that Talia won't give him any more answers today, he storms out in frustration.</p><p> </p><p>Left alone in the room, Talia lets out a sigh. <em> What had she ever seen in him? </em></p><p>
  <em> Buzz </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Bzzt </em>
</p><p>She pulls out her phone seeing some messages that Medea had sent. Unlocks it, she quirks her mouth in a smile. Her children had sent messages and photos of them at the zoo. There was a message from Damian begging Talia if they could get a lion. Chuckling, she responds in the negative. Then she adds another message saying they could adopt it ‘in name’, but it had to stay at the zoo. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The following days are tense for Medea. She goes on to work as usual. Having heard about the confrontation at H.I. between Talia and Bruce, it only makes her feel worse. It didn’t help that Slade recently left for a job and Joey had returned back to LA. </p><p>She had a feeling that the confrontation was only the beginning of a chain of events. </p><p>Turns out she was right. Damian had started receiving messages from the Bats. He was wary of the letters at first, but he also couldn't deny the small part of him that still wanted to meet the man behind the mask.  The one he had grew up hearing heroic stories about from his sister, his mother and even his grandfather. His curiosity eventually overcame him, leading him to open them. They had extended an invite to him to visit the manor, wanting to meet him without a bias, so everyone would have the chance to form their own conclusions.</p><p>She had to give it to them, they really knew how to upsell the Wayne family. Damian had hesitated before asking Talia, but she'd agreed. And so he went, for a week with Talia and a slew of bodyguards. They had offered to let him stay at the Wayne Manor for the duration of his visit, however, Damian had refused. Mainly because they would not extend the same courtesy to his mother. Instead he would stay with Talia and travel to and from their penthouse and Wayne Manor.</p><p>So Medea was surprised when they returned after two days. From what she could gather, they made the mistake of treating him like a young child and trying to force their ideals down his throat</p><p>The bats had taken his eagerness to visit as a sign that he could be 'saved'. Taking it upon themselves to convince him see their ways and reject what Talia and Medea had taught him.  </p><p>He quickly grew disillusioned with the constant comments about how they could 'help' him and his sister and how the League was evil. Meeting the man hadn't done anything to change his perspective either, as it seemed like the man never removed his mask. Batman and Bruce Wayne were the same identity, just dressed differently. Seeing the memorial was the last straw. The moment he saw it, his decision was made. He was never returning.</p><p> </p><p>“Dami?” she runs her hand in his hair, he hadn’t said much after explaining why they had returned home early. “What’s wrong?”</p><p>His voice is muffled, making it hard to understand, as she only makes out the word memorial.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>Damian huffs and untangles himself from Medea, releasing her from his hug. “How can he say that he wants to know us? He doesn’t even see us as his children. Did you know that your old suit has been turned into a memorial?”</p><p>“I-it’s still up?” her breathe hitches, she hadn’t thought about it since that night years ago</p><p>“Yes” he pauses briefly and adds “That stupid plaque. It was more than enough for me to make a choice. ‘A good soldier’, how can a man reduce his child’s life to those words?”</p><p> </p><p>Medea is silent, choosing to pull Damian back into an embrace.“I’m sorry, I knew you had hopes that he was different.”</p><p>“Don’t say that. I don’t regret my choice, I’d choose you again with no hesitation. At least I won’t ever wonder whether I should have met him now.”</p><p>Although he made his stance clear, the bats had ignored it. They prevailed in sending messages. But he simply burned each one. And started sending the ashes back in response.  In time, the messages slowed in frequency before stopping completely.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Medea wasn’t safe either. Dick and Tim were persistent, even daring to frequent public places that she went to as a civilian. Dick had tried showing up a few times at H.I., but was turned away by the third time. She let her staff know that unless he was here on business to refuse him entry. Due to that, they started ‘bumping’ into her when she was out in public. She couldn't even go get coffee from her favourite coffee shop without being harassed. Each time, they tried to convince her to come home. Dick had gone as far as to say that he missed his ‘little wing’. She’d scoffed at that. </p><p><em>I am only his sibling when the situation benefits him. If I was his sibling, then why did he let the Titans belittle me about not living up to his legacy? He barely blinked an eye at the comments. </em> <em>Why would they not take no as an answer?  </em></p><p>At this rate, Medea swore that she would file a restraining order the next time she bumped into them. Or failing that, she would resort to other methods. When she complained to Rose, who saw firsthand what was happening, Rose smiled and told her to trust that she had a way to stop them.</p><p>And weirdly enough, they did. Their appearances stopped around the same time Damian’s messages did. Though she suspected that Ra’s or Talia had a hand in it too. The only reason she suspected them was because Lady Shiva had shown up one night. Her excuse that she was ordered to make sure Medea maintained her training sounded like a weak excuse to distract her. </p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Unbeknownst to Damian and her, they were partially correct. Ra’s had played a hand in it, but so had Slade. Ra’s had retaliated with setting off and instigating crime all around Gotham. Crime was at an all time high for weeks. Nobody was safe. Forcing the bats to pull back from their attempts and focus on helping Gotham. They had been run dry from the sudden influx of crime. </p><p>And that was only the beginning. A few secrets here and there had some interesting results. Some companies stopped working with W.E., withdrawing from signing any contracts. W.E. stock prices started to drop. True to her word, Talia served W.E. with a lawsuit regarding corporate espionage. That had been a field day for the Gotham media.</p><p>Deathstroke created his own brand of chaos too. Besides helping instigate gang wars in Gotham, he’d purposely appear and disappear in the bat’s eyesight, even when they were in civilian attire. Thus raising their paranoia levels to the roof, since he made no other visible moves. Rose had also roped Eddie into her mischief. Like her father, she'd show up and disappear in full armour, making threatening gestures. With the help of Eddie's portals, she was able to get into places normally impossible for anyone to appear in. They had also meddled directly with the bats. Whether it was by releasing the criminals the bats had just caught or just creating trouble.</p><p> </p><p>To bring home the message, the two men had shown up and informed them of the consequences they’d brought on themselves. The bats had refused to back off. So Slade decided to enforce the message. A couple broken bones and multiple injuries later, the bats finally backed off. </p><p>As the men prepared to depart, Ra’s reminded them “I hope you’ve learned your lesson, Detective. Otherwise… well the next time we won’t be as pleasant.”</p><p>The cold laugh that Slade let out had sent shivers down the younger bats’ spines.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>If that was considered pleasant, then they hated to imagine what worse would entail.</em>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Thankfully nothing more happened. Bruce must have deemed Talia’s threats serious enough to stop. Regarding the project that they had partnered with W.E., she avoided meeting Drake unless necessary. Afterall, she had staff that were in charge of heading the project, she wasn’t required to be on hand 24/7. </p><p>In her relief, she had forgotten about the fundraiser. To raise awareness of the project, the two companies had organized an event in Gotham. By the time she remembered, it had been too late to back out from attending. She could always send someone as her representative,  but she felt that it would send the wrong message. </p><p>
  <em> Ugh.. why was it so hard? Gotham, the city where she was born. The city where she flew for the first time. The city that housed her damned murderer and let him stroll the streets at his leisure. But the event was for a good cause, she should just suck it up and go. She wouldn’t even have to stay overnight, she could always arrange for a driver to drive her back once she stayed long enough. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> That works. Honestly she doesn’t want to be in the same town as <strong>him</strong>. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Now she just has to convince Talia. </em>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>When she made her decision, both Talia and Damian had offered to come as support. Neither of them wanted her to go alone to a town that held such bad memories for her. They had not been the only ones to offer. Even Slade and Rose had offered. In the end, she’d declined. Instead they compromised, she agreed to take a small group of bodyguards with her. Gotham was a city of the unexpected, nothing ever went the way that it should. </p><p>And as her luck had it, the event had been arranged to take place at Wayne Manor. Really, she scoffs, they couldn't have chosen any other venue. </p><p>Turning slightly, she inspects her reflection in the mirror. This time she’d opted for a <a href="https://imgur.com/9He27no">jumpsuit</a> that looked like a dress until closer inspection. Gotham events had an unfortunate reputation of villainous party crashers. If anything happened, she wanted to move freely. Her attire also allowed her to hide <em>a few</em> weapons. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>She was ready.</em>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Gotham was the same as she remembered. The smoggy weather, the pollution and even the same people. <em> God she had not missed Vicky Vale, the woman was a stain on professional journalism </em> <em> . </em></p><p>The event was going rather smoothly with many of Gotham’s elite present. Sionis had approached her, clearly going for her connections. She’d humoured him for a bit, before moving on. Her rounds around the room hadn’t given much information, she learned quite a bit of gossip though. </p><p> </p><p>She made an attempt to avoid the bats. They tried to approach her, but she would always slip away at the last moment. Anytime Dick or Tim got a little too close, she would go in the opposite direction. Cassandra Cain, Bruce's newest adopted child, eventually cornered her. While they talked briefly, Cassandra hadn't understood why she would willingly stay with the League. Leading to her leave once she had the chance.</p><p>The only one she’d willingly spoken to was Stephanie Brown. She’d recognized Stephanie from the coffee shop fiasco and she was sure the feeling was mutual.</p><p>“Wait- wait hold up. Does that mean you knew about me the whole time?”</p><p>“Sort of, I knew about your night job and your coworkers. But I didn’t really recognize you till you introduced yourself to me.”</p><p>"Were you actually in town for a gift?"</p><p>"Yes, for my grandfather."</p><p>"Like, Alfred? A- sorry, I didn't mean to..."</p><p>"It's fine, but it was for Ra's. I'd prefer it if we changed the topic."</p><p> </p><p>Out of all the bats, Stephanie was the closest to respecting her decision. Although she didn’t agree, she understood that Medea couldn’t be forced to stay.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>To be honest, Medea was mostly stalling for time. She was mentally counting down the minutes until it was deemed acceptable for her to leave. Currently, she was conversing with a mother and her daughter about good school districts in Gotham. </p><p>
  <em> Crash</em>
</p><p>Screams started coming from the entrance.</p><p>“Awww I feel so left out, no invitation sent out to dear ol’ me?” announces a familiar voice.</p><p>Dread fills her stomach.<em> Gotham must really hate her.</em> Across the room is Joker, his henchmen are surrounding the guests from all sides. They have started confiscating valuable jewelry from the guests. The little girl beside her whimpers in fear. Unconsciously she pushes the girl behind her, hiding her from Joker’s view.</p><p> </p><p>The Joker must have noticed. As he starts strolling toward them. </p><p> </p><p>“My my and who is this lovely little lady? You look familiar, have we met?”</p><p>“No.” </p><p>“How cold” says the Joker, acting as if he was hurt by her response “Well boys, I think we should introduce her properly to Gotham”.</p><p>“Thanks, but I refuse” <em> Where were the Bats when they were needed? Useless.  </em></p><p>“Oh sweet cheeks, that wasn’t an offer” with that he moves forward to grab her.  </p><p> </p><p><em> No, not again. </em> Her mind goes blank, she falls back onto instinct and takes out the henchmen approaching her. She takes three down, using their strength against them. </p><p>She only freezes when she hears a child cry out in pain. A group of henchmen instantly surround her and hold her down.</p><p> </p><p>“Now, now that was rude, you know.” says Joker. Beside him is a henchman holding the little girl with a knife to her neck. </p><p>“Let the girl go.”</p><p>“Ok, but no funny business” Joker wags his finger at her. <em> Right, because she was the one misbehaving.  </em></p><p>“Now.”</p><p> “Geez, I will. Don’t rush me” he lifts a hand, signalling for the girl to be let go. As she watches the girl run to safety, Joker pulls a syringe out and injects her.</p><p>“We are going to have so much fun together, little birdie.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>God, Gotham really is the worst.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>With that last thought, she blacks-out as the Joker cackles in the background.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Side note: If anyone was interested in Medea's gala outfit, feel free to check out the image. The model is also how I imagine Medea to look right now.<br/>https://imgur.com/9He27no</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Medea finds herself in an abandoned warehouse again. How will things play out this time around?</p><p>Medea: 0    ~~     Warehouse: 1</p><p>Round 2 begins now.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Slight mentions of torture and violence but nothing explicit or descriptive. Mild swearing.</p><p>Warning: character death</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When she wakes up, Medea finds herself in an abandoned warehouse. She is hanging from the rafters with her feet barely touching the ground.  </p><p>Across the room is a digital clock, the red numbers bli-blinking ominously at her. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> I-it is - It ... not - Ethiopia </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Deep breathes, it’s not real  </em>
</p><p>
  <em> It’s NOT real </em>
</p><p>
  <em> You’re just tied up in Gotham NOT Ethiopia </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Get out!   </em>
</p><p> </p><p>As she tries to regain her senses, she almost misses the Joker entering the room.</p><p> </p><p>“Ah I see our esteemed guest is up now. How do you like your accommodations?”</p><p>Ignoring her silence, he continues “ You know, you really are an interesting one. There were so many weapons on you. You’ve really got to teach me that one....”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Damn it. Did he take everything? </em>
</p><p>Medea continues to ignore him, focusing on loosening her hands.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>While she’s focused, she doesn't realize that the Joker has stopped talking. He’s approaching her and behind him is…is...</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Why </em>
</p><p>
  <em> No </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Not that </em>
</p><p> </p><p>The horror must be visible on her face, since a sinister smile appears on his face.</p><p> </p><p>“I knew you’d love my present! Well I better show you how to use it properly.” With that he takes an experimental swing at her using the crowbar.</p><p>Somehow she expects the next words before he says them. </p><p>“<b><em>Tell me little birdie, which hurts more?”</em> </b></p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Thwack </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b> <em>“A”</em> </b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Thwack </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b> <em>“Or B?”</em> </b>
</p><p> </p><p>Her worst nightmare is back, but this time she can’t wake up. </p><p> </p><p>“<b>Forehand or backhand?</b>”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> She is a child again</em>
</p><p>
  <em> Stuck in Ethiopia </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Sold out by <span class="u">that</span> woman</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“<b>Come on, it’s rude to not answer your host, ya know.</b>”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Sheila watches on, bored</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Smoking a cigarette </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Uncaring </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Dad, where are you? </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Thwack </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Thwack </em>
</p><p> </p><p><b>“I thought you looked familiar, and now I know where. You have the same face as that birdie. Did you say <em>hello</em> to the big man for me?</b>”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Thwack </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> The timer is blink- blinking?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The numbers aren't counting down?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>No, no, NO</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> This isn’t Ethiopia </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Thwack</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> She’s not a child anymore </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Thwack </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> She’s got a grandfather, a mother, a father and siblings</em>
</p><p>
  <em> They care about her </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Thwack </em>
</p><p> </p><p>The Joker is relentless, seamlessly switching from forehand to backhand. How long has this been going on for?</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Thwack</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> What's that noise in the background?</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> . </em>
</p><p>
  <em> . </em>
</p><p>
  <em> . </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Oh </em>
</p><p>
  <em> . </em>
</p><p>
  <em> . </em>
</p><p>
  <em> It’s me.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Medea blinks again, how long had she been screaming? Her throat feels hoarse. If the clock was right, almost three hours have passed by.</p><p> </p><p>She's not sure what was real anymore. Just how long had Joker been there? How much of it was her hallucinations?</p><p>It doesn’t matter.</p><p>What matters is that she needs to leave now.</p><p> </p><p>Testing her restraints, she lets out a light hiss as she realizes just how chafed her hands are. There are thin streams of fresh and dried blood running down her arms. She notes that the ropes around her hands seem looser then before.Looking up at the rafter, she notices that the rope has also frayed a bit since her arrival.</p><p>
  <em>Huh, guess all that writhing around as a human piñata must have done a bit of work.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>All I need is a little more time. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>If I can put some more strain on the rope, it should be enough.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Ignoring the pain, she starts moving back and forth to fray the rope.</p><p>
  <em> Almost there.</em>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>“Little birdie, are you ready for the next round?” Joker's voice travels from the hallway to the room she's in.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Shit, come on, come on.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Only a little bit left.</em>
</p><p>She stays silent, willing herself to focus. She can’t waste any more time. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“I had so much fun, I can’t wait to continue.”</p><p> </p><p>By the time, the Joker enters the room, she's stopped her attempts. Instead, she tries to loosen them without drawing any attention to them. </p><p>
  <em>I have to keep him distracted.</em>
</p><p>The Joker is getting closer and closer, until he stops a small distance away.</p><p>She blinked again. <em> There had been a flash of silver. Was that...</em></p><p> </p><p>“What’s wrong? Did the cat get your tongue? Don’t worry Uncle J’s going to make you feel all better.”</p><p> </p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Hmmm?”</p><p>“L-let's w-wrap things up. Don’t want to overstay my welcome.”</p><p>“Ahahaha! You’re a interesting one, aren’t you?”</p><p>She doesn't bother responding to him. </p><p>"Come on, don't be silent now. We were just having a grand ol' time."</p><p>"..."</p><p> </p><p>Joker seems bored with her silence, as he places a gun on a nearby table. He picks up a bloodied crowbar from the ground for inspection.</p><p>"Fine, be that way then. I think we can get some more use out of the old crowbar. Or should we move onto something more to your tastes? Would something from the good old American dream work better?"</p><p>Following his glance, she looks to see a metal bat by the table. <em>No, if he uses that... there's no way I'll have enough energy to escape.</em></p><p> </p><p>She has to redirect his attention.</p><p> </p><p>“W-wait. Aren’t you curious about wha-what the big man told me?”</p><p>A shark-like grin appears, “Alright, I’ll bite. What did he say?”</p><p> </p><p>“Come closer so I can tell you.”</p><p>As he approaches closer, she senses an opportunity. This is it. She’s only got 1 chance. </p><p> </p><p> <em>Her heart is pounding <strike>with fear? in </strike></em><strike><em>anticipation?</em></strike></p><p> </p><p>He stops within her kicking distance “So? What did he say?”</p><p>“He said-” her body protests at the sudden movement</p><p> “-to tell you hello”  as she pushes her legs forward to kick him squarely in the chest. </p><p> </p><p>The motion causes him to stumble and fall backward. The crowbar drops out of his hand, clattering loudly on the floor. </p><p>The universe must be smiling on her now. There was just enough force for her to slip out and break free from her bindings. She can feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins. Giving her enough strength to run for the gun.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Success</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Her hands are shaking and slippery from her blood.</p><p>
  <em> Check the gun Medea, that’s your first step. </em>
</p><p>The chamber is loaded with 3 bullets.</p><p>It's more than enough.</p><p> </p><p>“Ha! Ha! HA!” breaking into cackles, the Joker gets back up with the crowbar in hand. “You thought that would do anything? You're only delaying the inevitable <em>birdie.</em>” </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>That should have knocked him out.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>My time as a piñata must have taken a lot more out of me than I thought.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He cackles at the sight of the gun in her hands. “Shoot me! HA! As if! Daddy bats is gonna be awfully disappointed with you” His face is contorted into a hideous grin.</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <em> Brat, when you shoot, you don’t pull the trigger. You squeeze it. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Make sure you aim before.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> Turn the safety off.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> Don’t be emotional when you shoot.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Guided by the memory, she flicks the safety off. </p><p>“N-no, my father would be proud.” she steadies her trembling hands and takes a deep breath. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Eyes on the target, kid.</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Bang </em>
</p><p>.</p><p>
  <em>Bang </em>
</p><p>
  <em> . </em>
</p><p>
  <em> . </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Bang </em>
</p><p>.</p><p>
  <em> . </em>
</p><p>
  <em> . </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Click</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Click</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Right, there’s no more bullets.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> He’s finally gone.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>For good.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>The Joker is lying in a pool of blood, face frozen in disbelief. This time there is no way he would have survived from the close range. She’d aimed at his head twice, before putting one through his heart.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Finally.  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>It's silent.</em>
</p><p>
  <em> No more clowns. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Staggering, she moves closer to him. There must be a phone somewhere, she isn't going to be able to leave by herself. She can already feel her adrenaline levels starting to die down.</p><p> </p><p>A crash is heard, turning she sees Batman break the window and land. “NO!” </p><p>Seeing the gun in her hand. His hand automatically goes to his belt for his batarangs. Throwing them in quick succession. </p><p>The first she dodges, coming dangerously close to her neck. The next she misses, slicing her hand and forcing her to let go of the gun. Hissing in pain, she nearly gets hit by the last one. </p><p> </p><p>Batman approaches Joker, trying to feel for a pulse. “What have you done?”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Was he serious?  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Her injuries are catching up to her, her vision beginning to darken around the edges. </p><p> </p><p>She hears another crash. This one brings a more welcome face though. </p><p>“Deathstroke, get out." growls Batman "You’re not welcome here.” </p><p> </p><p>In response, Slade punches Batman in the face, effectively knocking him out. </p><p> </p><p>If she was more conscious, she would have giggled out loud at the sight.</p><p>Slade looks concerned for her as he approaches. <em> Oh, did I giggle out loud? Wow that sounded hysterical. </em> </p><p>Probably looked like a mess too, with blood and wounds all over her body. </p><p> </p><p>“Kid? Medea? Stay awak-”</p><p><br/>Her vision turns black before he gets the chance to finish.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> I shouldn't have come back.</em>
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>"Sometimes life brings you full circle to a place you have been before just to show you how much you have grown." </p><p>"Be careful how you treat someone that cares for you because they might just walk away and never come back" </p><p>                                                                                                                              - unknown authors</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Slight mentions of violence and murder.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Tick</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Tick</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Tick</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> The next time she wakes up, she is in a hospital. Alone in a hospital room, with Slade nowhere in sight.  </em>
</p><p><em> No, no, where is he? </em> she can feel her heart pounding in panic.</p><p> </p><p>At that moment, Slade walks into the room on the phone. Startled he quickly hangs up and comes over to where she is. </p><p> </p><p>“Hey, hey. Deep breaths now. You’re safe, the cops brought you to the hospital.”</p><p>“The Jo-Joker…torture… sho-shot him... Batman...”</p><p>“Medea? Medea. Slow down. Breathe” He waits until her heartbeat slows to normal before he continues “Nobody is going to take you away or hurt you. That bastard is dead and I made sure of it. You're not being charged, the case has already been closed.”</p><p>“D-dead?”</p><p>“Dead as a doornail. Ra’s is making sure the corpse is burnt.”</p><p> </p><p>“You came for me…”</p><p>“Why wouldn’t I?”</p><p>“Thank you.”</p><p>“Don’t be ridiculous, I’m your father. It’s what I’m supposed to do.”</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>“You should rest, everyone has been so worried about you. You can talk to them when you wake up.”</p><p>“B-but..”</p><p>“Rest. I’ll stay and keep watch. <strike> Nobody else will hurt you, you are safe now </strike>”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>When she wakes up a few hours later, she sees that Slade has kept his promise. He’s in a chair beside her bed and on the phone with someone. With Talia?</p><p>“Finally up? Talia wants to speak to you if you’re up for it.”</p><p>“Yes, please.”</p><p>Slade hands her the phone as he gets up from his chair. “Alright, I’m going to get some food. Want anything?”</p><p>Confused she looks up at Slade, “Am I allowed to have anything?”</p><p>“Ehh what they don’t know won’t hurt them.”</p><p>“Ice cream, please?”</p><p>“I’ll see what I can find.”</p><p><br/>With that Slade leaves the room, allowing Talia to privately talk to Medea. Talia immediately starts scolding her recklessness at the gala, but she can sense the worry hidden behind the words. Turns out she had been missing for a day and a half. Meaning she had read the clock wrong, 15 hours had passed rather than 3 hours. And she had been out for the better half of the day in the hospital.</p><p>Everyone had been worried when they heard the news about her kidnapping, with Slade having been the closest to Gotham. Talia had explained the events that happened after she passed out again. When Slade had found her, she was on the verge of dying. He had no choice but to inject a small amount of Lazarus into her to keep her alive. He then arranged an anonymous tip to the cops to find her unconscious body at a nearby alley. Once she was picked up and sent to the hospital, he'd headed back to the warehouse. </p><p>As far as the public knew, the Joker had been murdered brutally by an unknown assailant. With his head separated from the rest of the body and large wounds covering his entire body. She had been the 'lucky' victim, who managed to get away before the assailant could do the same to her. GCPD had immediately ruled her out as a suspect, as the wounds inflicted on the Joker would have been impossible for her to inflict in her condition. They were looking for a much taller, heavier built assailant. The gun she'd used had also disappeared without a trace of its existence. Regarding the assailant, GCPD had looked the other way, nobody was inclined to search for them. Afterall, who hadn't been affected by the Joker in this city?</p><p>Upon her admittance, the hospital had checked her emergency contacts. Talia was contacted immediately, but she was overseas and she had directed them to Slade. Giving him a reason to appear in Gotham as a civilian. Ra’s and Talia had also sent agents in Gotham to keep an eye on the situation after Joker's death. According to their intel, people seemed inclined to hold parades to celebrate Joker’s death rather than delving into chaos. Depending on her injuries, Talia was ready to transfer Medea to a New York hospital once she was cleared for travel.  Making Medea promise to keep her updated on her health.</p><p> </p><p>They wrap up their call by the time Slade returns. In his hand, ice cream is absent. He notices her look of disappointment and offers her a cookie instead. </p><p>“They didn’t have any left.”</p><p>“Mmm… that’s fine.” she accepts the cookie and begins munching on it.</p><p>Hospital food is pretty bland, but this is the first food she’s had since the gala. She’ll take what she can get.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The doctors stop by soon enough, they tell her that she was lucky to have escaped with no permanent damage. Slade and she had exchanged looks at that, she hadn’t been as lucky as they believed. It was only due to the Lazarus pit. The accelerated healing had left her with a few cuts, a minor concussion, and some fractured ribs. Turns out the hallucinations she had were partly due to the fear toxin and from her previous experience in Ethiopia. </p><p>Their advice was to stay a few more hours to make sure her symptoms wouldn’t worsen. If nothing worsened, she would be free to leave. </p><p> </p><p>After the doctors left, they planned out their next steps. Slade went out to collect the rest of her belongings from the hotel, some better food for lunch and to arrange their transportation out of Gotham. Stuck at the hospital, Medea didn’t have much to do besides updating Talia and the rest of her family. The next few hours were spent making multiple calls reassuring others that she was fine and leaving the hospital soon.</p><p>When they had first heard the news, Talia and Ra's had been conducting business overseas,  Joey was on the other side of the country, with Rose being the only one who could stop Damian from sneaking out to find her. They had all been relieved to hear that she was safe. Everyone had wanted to come to Gotham, with some voicing their plans to pay a visit to the bats for their incompetence. There had been a mutter of "fine job they do, protecting Gotham. So many bats, yet not one of them was able to come earlier." from Damian.</p><p>She barely managed to convince them to meet in New York instead. Reasoning that it would be easier for everyone, as the likelihood of her being released was pretty high. In addition, she didn't want to be in Gotham any longer. This visit hadn't helped with her bad memories of the city. Plus Slade was here, so she would be fine. Her luck seemed to be improving, since she managed to talk them down from coming to Gotham.  </p><p> </p><p>Slade returned quicker than she'd expected. How he managed to smuggle ice cream and junk food into the hospital would remain a mystery to her. One that she wasn't going to question.</p><p>
  <em> Yum. They were probably going to be in trouble if they were caught though. But heh. Worth it. </em>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The next few hours went by relatively quickly, the two had settled into their own routine, content in each other's company. So you could imagine their surprise, when they received an <strike>unwelcome</strike> unexpected visitor to her room.</p><p>“Wayne” says Slade, as he positioned himself that blocked Medea from Bruce's view.</p><p>“Wilson.”</p><p>“Get out. Was the punch not enough?”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m here to talk to my daughter.”</p><p>“Not your daughter, she's mine. You lost your chance when you had it.”</p><p> </p><p>The way the two men are going for each other, Medea suspects that they would soon be thrown out of the hospital for causing a disturbance.</p><p> </p><p>“Dad, it’s fine. I’ll deal with it.”</p><p>She must not sound that convincing as Slade looks skeptical when he says “Okay, then talk.”</p><p>“In private” Bruce grits out.</p><p>Slade looks ready to pounce.</p><p> </p><p>“Dad...” Medea glances at Slade and shares a look with him.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> I’ll be fine, you can wait by the door if you want.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Fine. But if he lays a hand on you, I'm throwing him out.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Sure.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>“Alright, I’ll be outside. Shout if you need anything.” says Slade as he starts heading toward the door.</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>"I mean it, anything." He looks back to give her a pointed look before walking out the door.</p><p> </p><p>Bruce waits for the door to close shut before he starts speaking. </p><p>“He can still hear us.”</p><p>“So? I would have told him after you left anyway.”</p><p>Bruce grunts in annoyance. Medea could care less. All she wants is to go home. </p><p> </p><p>The silence stretches on awkwardly, neither knowing what to say to each other. </p><p>From the looks of it, Bruce was struggling to begin the conversation. What do you say when you see your not-so-dead adopted child, who committed murder, just a few hours prior?</p><p>She could say something to lessen the awkwardness, but she feels no inclination to do so.</p><p> </p><p>Finally, she gives in. The earlier they begin, the faster she can get it over with.</p><p>“I can call him back if you want.” offers Medea.</p><p>“No.”</p><p> </p><p>“So why are you here?”</p><p>She watches expressions flitter about his face until it stops on a familiar one. <em> Ah, Batman.  </em></p><p> </p><p>"We need to talk about last night."</p><p>"What about it?"</p><p>“You... you killed a man.”</p><p>“I nearly got murdered again and you came to tell me this?" she gestures to the door "The door's that way, don't let it hit you on the way out."</p><p>"..." Bruce doesn't move from his spot. </p><p>"What was I supposed to do, let him kill me a second time? I'd apologize for not meeting your expectations, but frankly I could care less.”</p><p>“There is always another way.”</p><p>“Are you serious?”</p><p>"..."</p><p> </p><p>Medea lets out a cold laugh "Here I thought you were going to try... to try as Bruce. You truly live up to your title, <em>Detective</em>. Always crime first and <strike>family</strike> relationships second." </p><p>Bruce flinches at the sound of her laughter. </p><p>
  <em>He really hasn't changed at all, still the same emotionally stunted man. It may be enough for the others, but it would never be enough for me.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>"If you have nothing more to say, please get out."</p><p> </p><p>Bruce remains silent briefly before questioning her “Why didn’t you come back? Talia said that you stayed willingly.”</p><p>“I’ll admit I wanted to come back at first, except circumstances changed.”</p><p>“W-what?”</p><p>“At first I stayed away for your safety. Did you know that I was in the pit?”</p><p>“I suspected it… but what does that have to do with you staying?”</p><p>“Bruce, I was insane. I wanted to kill you and the new robin when I regained my consciousness. I hated that I was replaced so easily. Talia was the one who convinced me to heal first. Without her, I would have given into the pit's whispers and probably went on a destructive rampage in Gotham.”</p><p>“... I-I didn't replace you. Batman needs a Robin.”</p><p>"Yeah, you just put a new kid in the suit 6 months after I died. And put my murderer back into that poor excuse of an asylum." she mutters bitterly.</p><p> </p><p>"Please... I mourned you. I-I wanted to avenge you. B-but I couldn't. You know I can't cross that line."</p><p>"...I know."</p><p>"Th-then why?"</p><p>"It was your actions after my death that made me decide to stay.”</p><p>“What? Talia must be feeding you lies. I genuinely had no idea that you were alive. If I had known, I would have-”</p><p> </p><p>“Exactly, Bruce. You didn’t know I was alive. Did you ever stop to think about what you said about me after my death? ‘Don’t be so reckless or you will end up like Jason’ or 'Jason didn't listen, look how he turned out'. You turned me into a cautionary tale that everyone believed. You of all people know that I wasn’t chasing after Joker, I went to meet Sheila. I don't blame you for not knowing the next part. But contrary to my hopes, she sold me out to tha-that deranged clown! </p><p>And the plaque, that stupid, stupid plaque. You called yourself my father, but you reduced me into three words ‘A good soldier’. Was that really all I was, another soldier in your crusade?” rants Medea.</p><p>"I-I-" Bruce attempts to cut in.</p><p>"No, you listen to me. You want to know why I really stayed? Once I healed, Talia gave the option of going anywhere. I stayed because I found a family that accepts me. I have siblings that actually care about me, ones who don't get their friends to tell me that I didn't live up to his legacy. Family members who don't push me away based on asinine rumours or constantly compare me to another. I'm accepted for who I am. Can you say the same?"</p><p>By the end of her tirade, Medea is breathing heavily. In the back of her mind, she feels the pit's encouragement to give into violence. With great effort, she shoves it back down and forces her breathing to slow until the green taint is out of her vision.</p><p>Bruce is silent, watching and waiting for her eyes to stop glowing. He's tense and wary, his body poised to react the moment she gives into the pit's urges. Thankfully for both of them, the green glow fades, albeit rather slowly. </p><p> </p><p>“...”</p><p>“Nothing else to say, Bruce?” she mocks.  </p><p>“I-I...” He starts before stopping again. “...Jay, come back. Please, come home with me. I mourned you. Yo-your death, it ripped a hole in my life. One that I couldn't fill with anything. Nor did I want to fill it. I missed you, Jay-lass. Alfred too... he's been mourning so long for his grandchild. He wants to see you again."</p><p> </p><p>Medea is quiet, seemingly contemplating his words. Giving him hope until he hears her answer.</p><p>Any emotion that was present from before is gone when Medea responds in a blank tone "No."</p><p>"What? Why?"</p><p>"Because I'm no longer the kid that you picked up from the alley. I've changed, Bruce. You haven't." </p><p>"Bu-"</p><p>"Would you still have me, if I tell you that my hands are stained with blood? And that I don't regret any of my actions? Rapists, human traffickers...human scum. All done willingly."</p><p>"Please, let me help you. I know the League can be very persuasive, but they manipulate and brainwash those under them. Making it seem like that it was under your free will. Just say the word and I can get you out of Deathstroke's grip. The family can protect you from the League.”</p><p>"..."</p><p> </p><p>"Jay?"</p><p>“You’re serious,” Medea shakes her head in disbelief “do you hear what is coming out of your mouth? Have you listened to anything I've said? I wasn’t manipulated into staying. The world isn’t black and white, Bruce. There are shades of grey-”</p><p>“Please, Jay.”</p><p>“It’s not Jay, my name is Medea.”</p><p> </p><p>“Ja- Medea please, I want to be a family again. Let me make it up to you. Please. Let me help you. It isn't too late to turn your back from the League.”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Please, my family isn’t one without you.” pleads Bruce.</p><p>“That's not my problem, you just have to accept that I have mine and you have yours. The version you want no longer exists." </p><p>Bruce sputters at her words. "N-no..."</p><p> </p><p>Medea interrupts his sputtering, "I wonder, do you still remember Garzonas' case?"</p><p>"Yes?" Bruce is thrown for a loop. He is not sure what she's angling at, the case had happened so many years ago. It had closed with Garzonas' death. Though it was never confirmed, he had great certainty about the cause of Garzonas' death.</p><p>"You didn't believe me back then and thought I was turning into Willis, a criminal. Years later, I'll still stand by my answer. I didn't push him, he fell."</p><p>"What does that have to do with this?"</p><p> </p><p>"Bruce, I'm trying to show that you haven't changed at all. You never listen to people, it's always your agenda first. When you came in today, the first thing you did to me was to reprimand me about Joker's death. You came in here for your mission, Batman's mission. I tried to tell you that I stayed of my free will, but you refused to listen to me. Guess what? The world doesn't revolve around you, Bruce. You don't get to dictate what's right and wrong for everyone. </p><p>Also, I've been legally alive and in the public eye for years now. We run in the same social circles too. You've missed your chance for reconciliation a long time ago. Hell, you didn't even see me as your child then, just as another soldier. The memorial you have is proof of that. Do you remember what you said on the last patrol that we had together? 'I'm not your father, Jason. I don't need your teenage rebellion.'  Well I didn't know it then, but you were right! I have a father, one who will trust and believe in me. Not one who only wants me when it benefits him."</p><p> </p><p>"I-I..."</p><p>"Get out, Bruce. I don’t want you in my life. Not today and not ever. Get out of my sight.”</p><p> </p><p>At that Slade opens the door “The doctor wants to check up on you, Medea”, then to Bruce “You heard my daughter. Get out Wayne and don’t bother my children again”.</p><p>“How dare you-”</p><p> </p><p>As Medea had suspected, the men are thrown out of the hospital. Well Bruce is, Slade is allowed to return once he explains his side of the story. He is allowed back as long as he doesn’t cause any more commotions.</p><p>Luckily, that never has the chance to happen. By the time Slade returns, she has already been cleared by the doctors to leave the hospital.</p><p> </p><p>“Dad?”</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“Can we go home now?”</p><p>“Of course.”</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you everyone for taking the time to read this story! I hope you have enjoyed it.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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